Dragon Demon
by catse2000
Summary: Inuyasha has lost both of his parents, and now the village is accusing him of killing their warriors. How can Inuyasha escape? And who is this strange person that has stepped up in his defense, and that smells like a demon? Story complete!
1. The Mysterious Meeting

Dragon Demon  
  
I want to thank everyone for the reviews so far, and I ask that you please forgive me for the block of paragraph that I had, but I was new to the system of ff.net, and I thought it would let me fix things after it was uploaded. I guess I was wrong. I've gone back over it and fixed the entire thing so that it is easier for the eyes. Thankyou!  
  
Disclaimer: I wish I did own Inuyasha and the other characters, but I don't (darn!) but hey, if I owned them, I would probably transform them into modern day school friends.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
The first time I saw him, the exact day we first met, I had simply been striding by, hoping to leave this interesting little village in its wake, and head to the mountains to meditate and earn a little peace. He was small, seven years of age perhaps, and had button like golden eyes, and long fine silky white hair that wrapped around round puppy ears like a mother to a child. The dear child was beautiful indeed but in a crisis I didn't think was fit for something of his age. There he was thrown, strewn of all of his clothing 'cept the coverage of his loins, and his face was marked with both tears and blood from the scent of it.  
  
Dear child.  
  
The villagers were all gathered around him, each with a torch lighting this dreary autumn night, were screaming at him as if he were a pagan, stomping their feet, and poking their sharp staffs at him every time he tried to escape. The poor thing was frightened close to death, and I couldn't help but wonder where the dear thing's mother was. The villagers were beginning to scream louder, things I thought not fit for the human mind to desire.  
  
Yet here they were screaming such things as "Kill it, the little beast! Or he will kill us!" or "Is the rope ready for hanging!" Such things they wished of for such a small child, whom most likely didn't know what they wanted to do to him in the first place. Even the children of the village were screaming with their parents to kill the child.  
  
Hanyou.  
  
That's what he was. Half demon and well cared for by his parents from the look. But why was he without clothing. Had these demon-like human's torn them from his body, thinking they were too good for him, or just to watch his skin shrivel when he was burned. Any how, I could not walk away. Those golden eyes pleaded to me, to help him, although he knew not the extent of the trouble he was in.  
  
Dear child.  
  
I stepped up and shoved through the crowds of rioters, such blood lusty beings, to the extent to where they were like the evilest of demon's.  
  
They knew not what I was, to them I was simply human.and I looked it. My hair was long and black, fitting for the normal woman these days, and tied back in a long sleek braid to the appearance. My face was clean, with a peaked nose and high cheek bones, and brown eyes that glared gold in the sun. My dress was simple: baggy black breeches that swung out in round swoops like small umbrellas at my legs. Could probably hold enough water to keep a camel going, and my jacket was simple and red, with the embroidery of a black dragon upon it's back. I did have black wrist wraps that also wrapped cleanly around my middle fingers, and simple loose slippers that could be pulled off or on at the take of a moment. I wore no jewelry.didn't believe in it really. and the only pieces of me showing not human, was the small fangs in my mouth and the irregularly sharp claws upon my hands. I wore my trusty staff upon my back, and the ancient dragon claw sword.the sword with a real dragon's eye held in the sharp talons of a dragon's paw. My sword, another trust possession and almost impossible to master, but I'd found a way. My appearance I supposed was usual, they didn't look at me as if I were evil, just simply wondered what I was doing here. I could hear their thoughts in my head, vivid pictures that I lured from their minds.  
  
These people knew not that I was demon, but they did know that the young boy before me was a hanyou and that he had the strength to destroy an army of their soldiers.they believed he'd done it before at least. I saw that they had only seen him coming from the area of the battle, were over one hundred of their warriors lay mangled in a heap. But they had not gone to bury them.why? It was disrespect and yet these maggots left their dead out in the open, for other demon's lower than the royal and pure to devour their bodies.just to get this child first. Had they no decency?  
  
"Out of the way woman.you stand in our way of the death of this demon!"  
  
I turned from the small child I had watched, to match the eyes of he that spoke. An older man than would have appeared, he had short black hair and armor.a general of the army slaughtered. Why wasn't he?  
  
"Leave or die!" He shouted in my face without fear.but I did not once flinch, or so much as even draw back my glare.  
  
I simply stood there, letting my eyes pierce through his. I could sense his fear now.he didn't know why I did not move, and I even saw images of his thoughts to where he would try to kill me if I didn't move. Did they hate this child that much?  
  
"Leave now girl or you will die with it!" Another woman shouted.  
  
"You are either his enemy or ours." Another man yelled. What was with these people?  
  
"I will not leave." I told them calmly.I had found that staying calm scared humans the most, for they feared.and then hated that of which they did not want to understand.  
  
"Then you are our enemy." Said the general.  
  
"What kind of demon's are you?" I asked. I wanted to see their reply. They were confused.  
  
"Demons, we are not demons. That child there is." Another woman replied. I still remained calm.  
  
"What has this young being ever done to you?" Again silence.  
  
"He has slaughtered our men." The general replied. A fool.  
  
"Did you witness it?" I asked.  
  
No reply. I could see they searching their memories, looking for something they could use as proof for me. But they found none.  
  
"That thing has been darkening this village ever since he came here!" Shouted one man.  
  
"What has he done?" Was my inquiry.  
  
Again silence, before another reply.  
  
"He has frightened our children." A woman said.  
  
"And you try to kill this boy because of fear?" I was raising the questions these stupid human's had hidden away in their hatred of this half and half being.  
  
"He also hurt our children." This was a lie.  
  
"How?" I asked.  
  
"He threw a stone at him!" A stone. That was all. I turned to the poor thing, his knees supporting his weight, and his ears drooped in desperation. I saw the images passing through his head. The children had attacked him first, attacked him because they were poisoned by their parents words. And the poor thing had only fought back to protect himself. I noticed quite a few bruises decorated over his tiny body.  
  
"And did not your children attack him first?" I asked.  
  
"No!" The were naïve.  
  
Didn't even know how their children acted around the poor thing.  
  
"In any case, you are not killing this boy. If you hate him so much, I will take him with me." I said this, because the flash of images that coated the dear things mind, was that of a dead mother, and a father he had never met. The mother had died of a disease I could see. This really was a poor child.  
  
"You can't!" One shouted.  
  
"I can't?" I asked sarcastically. "Why not?"  
  
"Because he has caused to much trouble to us." The same one replied.  
  
"You can't stop me from taking him you know." I told them.  
  
"How come?" The general asked. "We have powerful forces." He was lying. All of his forces were dead on the maggot infested battle field.  
  
"You have no forces. Each lies dead out of their grave." Everything went silent after an all together gasp. They were wondering how I knew.  
  
"You should leave this boy to me and clean up the battlefield. You will be cursed by their spirits if you don't." I replied. They still did not answer. I turned from their gawking faces, to the little silver haired boy before me.  
  
"Come with me young one, I'll take you away from here." He watched me wide eyed, (I could see one was swollen shut with a bruise). He had been severely beaten.  
  
"My mother." He whispered with a tiny little voice. I knew what he meant. Her body was still lying on her death bed.  
  
"We'll take her with us." I told him, as I held out my hand for him to take. He did and I pulled him to his feet. "Take me to your mother."  
  
*How was that? If there are still problems please e-mail me on them. If there are any problems with periods not belonging where they are, know that I did not set them there, but I think my computer itself did in the upload. Please over look these if you find them. Thankyou!* 


	2. Kojika The Draymon

Disclaimer: Yes I started a disclaimer. Don't really know why. Everyone can tell these characters don't belong to me and that I wouldn't dare stealing them from the artist Rumiko Takahashi. But any how, here's a disclaimer and I own no character here except for Kojika (hopefully her).  
  
Chapter 2  
  
He lead me, half afraid of the people's frightening stares, and yet half relieved that he was saved from death.  
  
We came to a small house on the edge of the village and I quickly went in, nearly suffocated by the scent of death that filled the house. He could smell it too, and he pinched his nose and pointed to his mother's bed. She had been a beautiful woman when she was alive, with long silky hair and thick eye lashes; rose red lips and a beautifully round face. She was wrapped in peasant garments and lie just atop her pretty satin sheets. She had just passed away from a very powerful parasite in her lungs.  
  
The poor woman.  
  
I bent down and grabbed her by her neck and legs, and strode heavily out the door, carrying the dead woman like I would a child. The little boy followed along, and the villagers stood upon the hill top over looking the boy's house, their weapons out ready to attack. I could read the plan on their minds.kill them both.  
  
"Jump on my back." I told the little boy. He didn't know why, but he figured we were in danger. the smart little thing, and he jumped upon my back, as light as a feather he was.  
  
And I ran just as the villagers broke into a charge. I ran as fast as I could through the forest, not even blinking as the branches swept past my face. The little boy had a tight grip, and I could tell that he was surprised by my speed. Yes, I was moving fast enough to transform the area around us into a complete unchanging dark green. But I could catch the idea of the land around us as we ran. Trees and then lakes, and finally the perfect place to bury this woman.and open daisy coated pasture.  
  
It was there I leaned down to let the little boy off, and then stepped up to a large old oak.  
  
It was a cherry blossom tree, and it's buds were just beginning to blossom. The crescent moon lit sky caused the tiny pink buds to look like jewels, and an assembly of fire flies danced around the tree like fairies. It was there.I dug up a nice deep grave and buried the woman.leaving my prayer and the child's with her. Yes, the boy knew how to pray.and he was crying. He did try to hold it in however.  
  
The poor dear.  
  
I bent down and hugged him, letting him leave his tears in my red jacket, and then afterwards, I picked him up and carried him to a nice river side where there I laid his now sleeping form upon the ground. A few fish were easy to catch and cook using my fire induced breath. He awoke when he heard the sound of the sizzling flesh, and ate up what I gave him. He most certainly was hungry, but he wouldn't talk. At this point, I had to start the conversation.  
  
"So what's your name little one?' I asked him politely. He looked up from his fish and answered in a low whisper.  
  
"Inuyasha."  
  
So that was his name. Cute name it was too. Inuyasha.I had heard that name somewhere before but where?  
  
"My name is Kojika." I told him gently, as I watched him finish up the fish and wipe his face clean with his naked arm. He needed clothes, and I had the perfect set. I reached into my bag, a thing small enough not to be a bother, yet big enough to carry everything I needed, and pulled out a little red treasure I had collected from a demon barbarian. A red hoari. It was made of the finest fire rat fur, which was a demon that could rapidly heal after any attack. In so doing, the hoari made from it's fur, helped the clothing to patch itself up after every rip or tear. With it came the under hoari that was to be worn with the red one.  
  
Perfect.  
  
I gave Inuyasha the clothing and told him to change into them when I turned around. He ran into the bushes and put on the clothes, those adaptive garments instantly taking the shape of his small body as he sat down. From wide to tiny they went. And they matched the form of how I saw him perfectly. He now looked like a young warrior.  
  
I turned around to look him over.this garment had slits in the top of the sleeves, and around the hip of the heavy set pants. And the divided white locks that shaped around Inuyasha's face rested softly on his shoulders.  
  
Perfect.  
  
He was a poor child no more.  
  
"What do you think?" I asked him.  
  
"They are nice.thank you." He responded shyly, continuing to eat when he grabbed the next fish that had finished frying. He certainly was a big eater.  
  
"I'm glad you have manners." I replied, finishing the fish I had and dropping the stick it was on into the fire. The flames licked it up hungrily.  
  
"My mother.made sure I knew how to be polite to others." He said.  
  
"That's good." I said. Then.silence.  
  
Finally.he broke that silence.  
  
"Thank you for getting me out of the village." He said gently.  
  
"No problem." I replied. "Why were they attacking you in the first place?"  
  
He stared at me for a moment, a flicker of thought passing behind those amber like golden eyes.  
  
"They didn't like me at all."  
  
"But they said they saw you coming away from the battle of their warriors deaths. What happened there?"  
  
He watched me quietly before answering.  
  
"I was in the forest trying to get herbs for my mother. I got lost and began to sniff around for the scents of humans and happened to come upon their trail. I only followed it because I lost track of direction. But when I emerged from the forest, I saw the demon's devouring and killing the men. I wanted to help, but I couldn't get close enough without being killed. Instead I ran to the village, now that I knew where I was, to go and get some help for the people. When I got there, my clothing was covered in the people's blood, and before I knew what was happening, they had all grabbed me and torn my clothes away."  
  
He went quiet there for a moment, simply staring at his fish.  
  
So that's what happened.  
  
No wonder I didn't understand his thoughts.not even he understood what had happened to him. They had only seen him coming from the battle covered in blood, so they assumed he had killed the men.  
  
How foolish.  
  
And yet, it was this foolishness that ended life so very easily.  
  
"Why did you save me?" He asked, again staring at me. Why wouldn't I?  
  
"Because I couldn't bear to leave the helpless behind. I never could bear it." I replied instead.  
  
"But you're a full blooded demon, a pure blood. Why would you help me?" He clarified. So that's what he was getting at. That's what he was wondering.  
  
"Not all demons are bad kid." I replied, shifting to get comfortable. "Same as not all humans are bad."  
  
"Yes they are." He whispered harshly. "They were mean to my mother, and they drove her away from the village to die without their support or their funeral rights. I hate humans."  
  
He didn't understand the true quality of life. But then again, he had only seen that village. He hadn't seen any other from what I could see in his memory. He believed all human's were like that.  
  
"Let me tell you something Inuyasha." That caught his full attention. He was watching me closely now.  
  
"Human's are simple creatures. They only believe in what the majority believe, yet when they find something new they don't understand, they hate it. They can't comprehend the fact that they are not the only ones in this world, and different beings higher than them can be made. Yet those that have the true belief, those that truly understand what they see.they are the strongest of all. They lead their own lives.not those that the others set for them. They travel as they like.live as they like.believe in what they want.and in so doing.can befriend anyone.and believe in anything. They don't limit their adoration, or quit dreaming about their own desires and the desires of others. So you understand.some humans can be quite evil.yet others.are kind creatures. Same for a demon.I don't follow the guidelines set by the demon race.I follow my own. As should you. There is so much to see when you are just you.and not anyone's slave."  
  
He was now looking at the ground.  
  
"I hate human's and that is that." This was going to take some time. Inuyasha was certainly a very stubborn and serious little thing. He must have endured a lot just from these first years. But I also knew how he felt.and perhaps.I could help him.  
  
"Inuyasha." I said quietly. He gave me his attention. "How would you like to journey with me. I can show you the truth to the true human heart. For that.is far stronger than any full demon's power.and can surpass the capacities of the human mind. The heart can give you strength you've never imagined in your wildest dreams.but only that human heart can open such strength."  
  
I could see his thoughts. There was confusion.denial.and then.acceptance.  
  
"I will go with you." He said quietly as he took another bite of fish.  
  
"Then it's settled. We shall leave early come the morning."  
  
And we fell asleep under the stars about an hour later.  
  
*There you go. I think this one comes out really well. But all of this I had to go back on just to fix. There will be more.I promise. I have eight chapters just like this on my computer. I only have to upload them, and I can only do those at school (my computer is far too slow.)* 


	3. Life With the Hanyou

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and co. These disclaimers are super boring!  
  
Chapter 3  
  
The next morning come, he woke up around dawn. I know this.for I was up an entire hour earlier.and I had already caught some cranes good for the cooking. He was awoken by the drifting smell.  
  
"Eat up. We have some traveling to do." I told him.and we did not speak until the meal was done and we were well on our way. The sky was a gorgeous blue, the emerald blades hung with diamond dew, and the whisper of the wind slithered through the trees like a snake in the grass.  
  
What a fine day to travel this was.so clean and pure and beautiful. The lakes appeared to be like glass as we passed by, and the falling leaves shaped around the flocks of birds that were now migrating towards the South. Fall had come, almost over night, and brought with it the crisp clean wind.  
  
When we did make it to the village, we just had to stop on the hill top to collect the last of the clean air before heading down. All through the village, Inuyasha continued to get down on all fours and snarl at the people around him.  
  
"Stand up." I had to tell him to keep him from scaring a couple of curious children.  
  
"You're frightening the people." I whispered in his ear when he looked at me confusedly.  
  
As so, we gathered supplies and tools and things for the journey ahead, and were able to get through quite fine. I could see in Inuyasha's mind that he hadn't expected everything to be so simple, and I couldn't help but grin at the thought that perhaps I could help him to be a powerful being.one that wasn't human.but wasn't demon either. A person that could see both worlds for what they were and wasn't blinded by belief in something in their religion.  
  
For a few days it went just like this.until we came upon a demon in human form. I knew not its name.but it was blood lusty.and it's eyes were set on Inuyasha. I did not attack, simply let it do as it pleased for a minute or two. And in that time, he watched Inuyasha closely. Time was to see how Inuyasha could defend himself.  
  
This demon jumped to attack, knocking the wind out of Inuyasha's lunges and sending him flying into the oak tree behind him. The demon smiled to display sharp canine teeth and a jaw fit for breaking bones, and with that it leaped towards Inuyasha again and this time it began to tear at Inuyasha's flesh. But still I waited for the little guy to defend himself. At the last moment of desperation, I saw that he could not hurt the enemy, and a moment of fear over swept my mind.  
  
What if he was killed right here?  
  
There was enough blood flying.  
  
I could not let this happen! I had to save him!  
  
With that I leapt forward with lightning like speed and snatched the attacking demon by the back of the throat, simply throwing him to the side and jamming my staff deep into his heart.  
  
He was now dead.for the demon could not live without the heart, and I turned to Inuyasha. He held severed wounds on his cheeks and chest, and I could already see the hoari mending itself. His eyes were even worsely bruised, and I could tell a few ribs and his left arm were broken. It had been stupid of me to let the demon attack another so young as this. I had thought foolishly, and he had to pay for it.  
  
I bent down and picked Inuyasha up, cradling him in my arms as if he were a baby, and left, taking my staff from the demon's body and setting it back in it's wooden sheath as I walked away.  
  
Inuyasha was now unconscious, and I had to wonder if the loss of his blood would kill him.  
  
But he was a strong child.with a strong will to life. With every choke came a heavy inhale and I saw that no matter the injuries.Inuyasha would not let himself be killed. It was rare to find such as this, such a being so powerful and wise.yet so young.  
  
And especially at such a predicament of the heritage that ran his blood. The fact that he was a hanyou; it was good that he had the desire to live. This boy would survive no matter what.I could see that now. But what he would become, was still clouded for the future.  
  
Would he kill innocence for pleasure, or help them?  
  
Would he do his best to make the right decision, or give up on that all together?  
  
Would he hate humans until the rest of his days?  
  
We had now come to a small pond in the middle of the thick forest I had entered, and I laid his body gently upon the soft grass that surrounded the water.  
  
Strange.no sand.  
  
Tearing off a piece of my belt and dipping it in the cool clear water, I wiped the sweat and blood from Inuyasha's body, and smiled as I noticed his wounds mending themselves together as I washed. His hoari was already completely mended, and now his flesh was following suit. So perfectly together this hoari and this boy; these two would go very far.  
  
He awoke when I spread the water upon his forehead, and in a move so fast and clever I didn't think it fit for a child, he had my hand pinned to the tree and my neck enveloped in his grasp. In the moment of need, in terror, he had forgotten what he was and attacked, and his speed was faster than a normal demon's. He would most certainly go far in his time.  
  
I could see the tiniest bits of the stripes on his face quickly come and go and the moon on his forehead glimmer blue but then vanish.  
  
He had nearly become a full blooded demon in his attempt to save himself.  
  
How very interesting.  
  
I had never seen a hanyou do such. But then there was the fact that he was so purely bred, that half of him. Most hanyou's I met were a mix of different species of the same, yet he was completely one side of the white youkai and the other of the human race.  
  
So interesting.  
  
In that moment, I saw his pale eyes regain color and then surprise. Instantly he let my neck and hand go and jumped back, staring at his own hands with disbelief.  
  
"What.what did I do?" He stuttered. "I'm sorry." He replied.  
  
And he turned and fled.  
  
Little hanyou, he had no understanding of what it was happening to him, and now I had to find him again.  
  
I was the guilty one for everything that happened to him, not he. Inuyasha had ever right to attack me, and I had every right to yield to his deadly claws.  
  
I had nearly left him to die at another demon's hands!  
  
I watched him disappear through the trees before standing and slowly striding towards the area he ran to.  
  
I would give him a little time to sort himself out, and then go find him, if he didn't already come and find me first. So right there, on the hill side, I lit a fire and sat under the shade of a large tree, awaiting his return.  
  
*There's another one. Now I've only about four more to go. Don't worry everything will be loaded up in good time. My fan fiction should be updated about 11/20/03. On a Friday. I just hate it that it takes an entire 24 hours to show something on a site. Grrrrr.* 


	4. The Draymon Life

Disclaimer: I don't own them. If that's not known already, then I think readers should go and meet Rumiko Takahashi in person and ask her yourself. Thankyou.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
He returned a little before sundown the next day, and yes, I had remained there waiting for him. I knew it would take a while, and so patiently I had waited. And he had returned.  
  
That night, by the fire light of the old fire I burned anew, he told me his apologies, that were not at all needed.  
  
"I'm sorry I did what I did." He replied.  
  
"No. I'm sorry." I told him.  
  
"Why?" He was watching me bewildered. The fire lit his face to a bright yellow glow, and I could see his reaction through a dance of shadows on his smooth cream skin. How interesting how light could turn things into real life portraits of another thing. He could have been a tree there, brought to life only by the fire light.  
  
"I didn't help you when you were being attacked. You nearly died." Was my answer.  
  
"I understand what you were trying to do." He told me, in a low whisper.  
  
"Yeah, but I was foolish. I shouldn't have tested you at such a young age." We were both silent for a while, and instead we watched the sun set over the horizon. And instant later, he seemed to be panicking.  
  
"What's wrong?" I asked.  
  
He looked at me with fear in his eyes. I could see the flash of a human being in his head.  
  
"What's wrong?" I repeated with a little more demand in my voice. He sputtered a little, but managed to give me an answer.  
  
"It is the new moon." That was it. I didn't see what was so wrong with that. Still, the same image of a young human boy with black hair flickered in his thoughts.  
  
"What does that have to do with anything?" But I could already see what he was getting at. The new moon. He was changing.  
  
His silver white hair was darkening, until it was a nothingness black, his claws turned to fingernails, his fangs shrunk, his golden eyes deepened into a dark violet, and his puppy ears.those retracted into normal ears that clung to the sides of his head. He had turned form a hanyou to a human. It was his night. The one night that the usual hanyou transformed into a human.the one night.  
  
And that was tonight.  
  
Interesting though how it was on the new moon on not any other time. It is usually said that the hanyou's human night is the very night after the day, or on the night they are born. So he was born on the new moon. Very interesting.  
  
"What's so wrong with becoming human?" I asked him.  
  
He watched me closely, his now violet eyes dancing in the fire light. I could see the picture of his mother in his mind. So that was it. He was used to his mother being there when he transformed, and now he had but she wasn't there for him anymore. He was thinking about her.  
  
Oh well. It was time to awaken his senses.  
  
"It's time you learned to live on your own kid." I told him. "Every month you turn human on one night. That will last for the rest of your life from what I know. But there will not always be someone there to comfort you. So you have to learn to live on your own." I saw the image of his mother vanish with a new found anger growing in him. He was not ready in his own mind to believe what I had to tell him.  
  
"You have no idea how I feel!" He shouted.  
  
"Foolish." I replied.  
  
"My mother was always there for me where my father was not. She took care of me and taught me to survive on my own. I can live on my own whenever I want!" He took this all to heart.  
  
"That I can understand, and finally I awoke the part of you that wants to survive."  
  
"Huh?" He asked.  
  
"There you go. You see. You're not shy towards me anymore and that's what I had wanted to get out of you in the first place. Now you can see things up front instead of by the side lines." He was glaring at me now.  
  
"But you still don't understand what it's like to be a human or a hanyou. You've always been a full demon haven't you!" he shouted. This kid was starting to really get into not being shy anymore.  
  
"You have no idea, do you?" He paused, watching me. The anger had left his mind but not his face. That was good. "I see you don't. I come from a very rare line of demons. A line so powerful, that every one of them must mate with a human to create a hanyou or their life would meet an end. You see, I'm called a Dragon Demon, or a Draymon. My kind is born as a hanyou, but as we age, we become a full demon. So we experience our human nights, our hanyou days, and then our demon eternities." I had caught his interest.  
  
"Why don't the dragons mate with other dragons?" He asked. That was simple enough to answer. Now to put it in words he would understand.  
  
"We Draymons are dangerous as we are, and our blood is made to be born thin, but grow stronger. If two strong blooded demon's were to mate from our kind they would create a crazy demon that was two powerful to control it, and would end up destroying the world as we know it. There was one such being in the ancient past, that completely destroyed another island adjacent to Japan, and nearly annihilated this one. You see, we mate with human's to give balance. The demon has the strong blood, while the human has the weak. When the child is born, it is a hanyou, yes. But as it ages, it gains experience and at the time of it's coming of age, it's blood takes the full turn under the full moon and they become completely demon. I went through the entire cycle and I'm here now. But it's difficult to make it here."  
  
"How so?" He asked curiously. He would be most surprised by my answer.  
  
"For the first fifty years of life, we grow up amongst our friends, and then for the next two hundred years we are forced to live on our own on one of the separate islands adjacent to the Draymon island. There we must survive the lower class demon's on our own and master our skills and instincts. When we leave those islands, we come back as new beings, and under the next full moon to occur, we are given the ancient blood of the purest there, and we become pure demons."  
  
"But then what are you doing here. Why aren't you on your home land?" He asked. I had three reasons, and I expressed them openly.  
  
"One is, that I want to see the world as it is before I am to be confined to one area of living space, so I plan on traveling for another hundred years or so. (Draymons live long long lives). Two, is that I'm looking for a human mate, a man whom meets my desires, to make a good offspring. And three, I have no home to return to."  
  
"Why's that?" He was very curious now, and the anger in his face had totally vanished, replaced by interest.  
  
"I was out cast from my home, because I told another being about our home. We Draymons aren't supposed to let out the fact of our existence with anything else unless it is the one we plan to bring back to marry. But I told another demon, one with evil intentions, and I was forced to leave after he had nearly tried to destroy the island. I can never return."  
  
"Why is it forbidden?" He asked. So many questions.  
  
"Because it could cause the extinction of my people. But I plain just don't believe in all secrecy. It's like hiding from a truth you don't want to meet, but sooner or later it's going to find you and it's going to hit you.hard. So I try not to keep such secrets. If I do, it is something I know will hurt those around me. I just didn't know then." I yawned and leaned my back against the tree.  
  
"So you see, I've experienced everything you have so far. We're both outcasts, so what do you say we stay together. There's strength in numbers you know." I closed my eyes and began to drift off to sleep, but I happened to hear the shuffle of feet and the feeling of his small form sit next to me. I opened my eyes to look at him, and he watched me with a suspicious expression on his face.  
  
"What wrong?" I asked. He had his hands stuck in either sleeve of his hoari.  
  
"You didn't save me because you thought I could be a good mate did you?" He asked. I couldn't help but laugh at his idea. It took me a good five minutes to finally catch my breath and answer him.  
  
"No." Chuckle. "No. I saved you because I didn't believe in the men's cause to kill you. You have nothing to worry about from me. I'm not up to anything as silly as that." He nodded, apparently accepting my explanation and closed his eyes, going to sleep right there at my side. I wrapped my arm around him and we fell asleep as two out casts.friends.  
  
*Thank you for reading. What do you all think so far? Chapter five is next! Hooray!* 


	5. Sesshomaru Demon of the Western Lands

Disclaimer: Nope! Don't own them. Inuyasha and co. don't even live in this time! So I can't own them, and everyone already knows Kagome is not going to be owned by anyone!  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Upon the next few years, he and I grew extremely close. So close that we could practically read each other's thoughts. And my young friend also became a little stronger, smarter, and braver than he had ever been before. He stopped jumping to all fours when he spotted someone he didn't trust, and even tried to blend into the crowd by wearing a straw hat to cover his ears and not smiling to wide to display the teeth. And no one asked about the peculiar hair color or the eye tint. As long as he hurt no one, all the villages accepted him as one of them, a mortal.a human. And in those few years, five I do believe, he grew tall lithe. So lithe was he, that he could literally turn in twists while in aerial flight. He would even show off sometimes when he was defending himself against a demon. The boy, had grown up and become fearless. His puppy ears had grown straighter, much more finely sharper, and his fangs and nails became more defined as well. His silk like white hair soon came down to below his waist, and the hoari I had given him grew with him, and suited him well. But there were still the few things he left that gave off the impression of the out of the ordinary.  
  
Like when I tried to get him to wear sandals, he would abandon them somewhere and continue to walk bare foot, counting the minutes to the hours to the days 'til I noticed.  
  
Smart he was, and grown handsome too.  
  
The girls of the village swarmed over him every time he came into the village. Only twelve now, he had the looks good enough to have the geisha girls flirting with him as if he were old enough to take one of them to be his wife. He never really paid any attention to them whatsoever.usually leaving them behind him when he found something interesting to investigate. He had the blood of a dog, but the instincts of a cat, and sometimes he would even wiggle his nose like he had whiskers. Through those next five years, I taught him all I could: to fight with a sword (although this I couldn't teach him enough of.  
  
He wouldn't stay long enough to learn the whole lesson!), proper dinner etiquette (which the both of us found completely boring but was essential), how to care for his clothing and keep it clean, what to do on the nights he turned human and how to fight a demon the best way in the case that one should attack on such a night, and the best way to fight a demon when challenged. He still didn't catch the full affects of my teachings, but he did always jump at the opportunity to please me. I could see it in his eyes when he beat a dangerous foe.  
  
He would glance in my direction and watch my expression, before smiling and burying what it was that he killed (yes, I also taught him to respect the dead as if they were his family, not matter if they tried to kill him or not), and saying a small prayer for it's soul to reach the afterlife in peace. Then we would head on our way to the next village. We even began to make a business out of demon exterminating. We'd go to a village that was constantly being attacked by a certain demon, and then we would charge to have it taken care of and dispose of it easily. Through time, he and I became quit good fighters, and every other day, we would decide who would hunt for dinner that night (yes, cooking was another thing I taught him, and he was good at it!) He would continually amaze me with different meals he would concoct, and the funny thing was, no matter what he put with it.it would taste delicious.  
  
Like one evening, he had caught a deer for dinner that night, and had added tiny centipedes, (demon's are immune to simple animal poisoning) seaweed from the pond, and tea leaves from a nearby tree and the meal had come out as mouthwateringly delicious.until I found out what he had put into what I just ate, and I threw it all up just like that. From then on, I watched for what he put in the meal. But he never put anything too outrageous as that. Everything else was the simple herb basted meal that was fried over an open flame and devoured by the both of us.  
  
We were the best of friends.  
  
Then one day, Inuyasha told me a dream of his that he had since he could remember.  
  
"I want to become a full demon." He announced one afternoon as we were traveling down the middle of a dense forest, slashing things in our way with the blades we possessed.  
  
"Why would you want to do that Inuyasha?" I asked him, curious to how he would phrase the answer I already knew. I chopped away some tall grass in my way when he answered.  
  
"Full demon's have so much more strength than a hanyou can ever have. I want to be the strongest I can."  
  
He chopped away some thick vines hanging from the over head tree.  
  
"Oh? Looks to me like you're strong enough already." I chopped some more grass.  
  
"Yeah, all the more reason to become a full demon, so that I'll be even stronger than any demon around. Even though I never knew my father, I want to be just like him." A snake hissed at him from a nearby branch and he sliced it's head off, pausing to make a small hole as it's burial, and praying a moment. When he was finished, I decided to continue on the subject, and find the truest reason why. By now, he wasn't one to hate his human blood, in fact, now he usually accepted it as the sole part of his strength. This thing about his father, was all a lie. And I sensed in his mind, that someone had disturbed him, someone he knew from the past had come back to him and threatened somehow. But who?  
  
"Inuyasha." I let my voice seep into him as a gentle but demanding command. "Who has drove you to this decision?" He stood and looked at me for a moment, and he already realized that I could read the passing thoughts.  
  
"I can't say." He told me, and my link to his mind was cut off. Yes, Inuyasha had discovered a while back how to cut me out of his mind when ever he chose too.unfortunately he could only keep it like that for a short time.  
  
"Why not?" I asked. It did feel like I was prying into his life, which I never really wanted to do it to him, for I knew it would make him feel un- independent, but I couldn't help but be worried. From the feeling of things, this demon that was harassing him was extremely powerful, and not only that, a thing that had struck fear in Inuyasha's heart a long time ago. But by now, Inuyasha just stood there, staring at his feet, unable to answer me.  
  
"Why not?" I repeated with a little more urgency. He wanted to tell me, I could tell, but he couldn't find the courage to do so. What was this being that frightened him so? Why did it frighten his so? But there was something else swelling in his expression of confusion. Anger.  
  
"Why don't you just leave me alone?!" He shouted at me, and he ran off.as fast as his hanyou feet could take him, and then he was gone. I knew, that if I tried, I could find him in a matter of a moment, following his scent (although my nose could never be as good as his) but I figured he would prefer his privacy. So I left him the day to think it over.and that night, and then the next day. After two days, he still didn't return and I began to greatly worry. By now his scent would be extremely thin and scattered, and it would be nearly impossible to find him by that alone. For this, I had to call upon my Dragon abilities, the few I had learned I possessed. One such ability, allowed my mind to expand and reach out to the area around, at least by five miles, and record the presences of those around me. So this I did, and I caught Inuyasha immediately, but with it came the other sense, the ability to receive their emotion that presence felt at the moment. The emotion.was fear. This caught my mind right from the off.  
  
Was "it" attacking him again?  
  
I didn't wait a moment longer.  
  
I ran.  
  
Ran so fast that the trees around me began to tumble to the side by the waves of energy I emitted. So fast that the grass was torn from the root all around me and the dirt was disheveled in the pattern of a deep burrow of a trench where each foot pressed the ground.  
  
The leaves burst from their branches and landed in heaps behind me. And soon enough.too soon I thought, I was there. And he was there, pinned to a tree by a long tendril of root, most likely from the tree it pinned him too, and he viciously tried to scrape it off. But there was another presence, two in fact, right in this area. And one was beginning to burn Inuyasha with his staff.  
  
It was a small toad like demon, a member of the youkai slaves breed, and his staff was topped off with the wooden heads of a young woman and an old man. The demon's round yellow eyes never left what he was burning, in which I was starting to see Inuyasha's legs peek out from beneath the pant legs of his hoari. At a moment of crisis, I generated a fire ball and shot it at him, knocking him aside with surprise.  
  
"What the.?" he exclaimed as he turned to meet my angry stare. I already had another fire ball ready.  
  
"Care to try that again, and I will fry you to cinders." I told him quietly.  
  
"Get out of my way!" He shouted at me. What a brave little midget?  
  
"Jaken. Enough." Came the soft yet strong voice from my left. I turned to see the Lord Youkai of the West. His hair was a long and fine silver, that covered over slit golden eyes, and a purple crescent moon mark on his forehead. The sides of his face and his arms were decorated in red stripes, and his clothing was that of a traveling royal. He wore a finely patterned white hoari, with red trim, under a heavy iron chest plate topped with horn like structures that pointed towards his fine face, a loin clothe that wrapped around his belt and hung down over his middle, and a large white tail that sat sloppily along his right shoulder. The Lord of the Western Lands.  
  
Sesshomaru.  
  
So this was what bothered Inuyasha, and drove him to desire to be a full demon. I didn't blame Inuyasha one bit. I would do the same were I in his position.  
  
"Kojika of the Draymon tribes." He announced to me, acknowledging that he did indeed knew who I was.  
  
"Sesshomaru of the Western Lands. How very nice it is to meet you." I replied, giving off the expression of a sweet little youkai. He wasn't fooled.  
  
"What have you to do with Inuyasha?" He asked me, his tone completely serious.  
  
"That's what I wanted to ask you?" He remained completely still. Were I a passing mortal, I would have figured him a statue.  
  
"He is my younger brother, and I have come to be rid of him." Talk about civil war here. I turned back to Inuyasha, whom had blood leaking from the wound in his chest, and a heavy burn on his left leg. It made me chuckle sickly at the thought that popped up in my mind. If they loved each other anymore, they might actually kill each other. "What do you have of him?" Came Sesshomaru's question. I turned to meet his golden eyes with my brown ones. My eyes were not naturally brown, but silver.  
  
"He is my apprentice, and I his master. Whatever you have to take up with him, you will take up with me now." He smiled, a small lingering smile that graced his lips like the kanji of a poet.  
  
"And you will fight me to kill me, all over a hanyou?" There was laughter in his eyes. I knew just how to answer.  
  
"I hate to fight, truly I do, but in this situation, there is no other way. I will give you one choice though, and it's your decision what to choose. You can either walk away, safe and unharmed, or crawl away from this fight beaten and bloody, because either way I will win. And you know that very well too. The dragon species have towered over your people for centuries with their elemental powers and they will continue to do so for the rest of eternity. So it would be best you simply leave here and not bother with Inuyasha any longer." He watched me, his grin gone from his face, and his lithe body set in the well practiced stance of the noble. He was serious now. Jaken ran to his side and glared at me from behind his master, sticking out his tongue at me like a foolish child. Such a stupid creature. And yet Sesshomaru dealt with it. Truly sad. But Sesshomaru was thinking, and his eyes were set on the ground, his face never leaving it's serious state. He was rather handsome I could say, and he was smart. I couldn't even reach into his mind to see his thoughts. They were too well guarded. But I could read Jaken's. In which he was thinking that I was stupid to even challenge his master and that I would die. How truly idiotic he was. Finally though, Sesshomaru answered me.  
  
"Let's go Jaken." He said, and he turned leading the way down the path, that silver hair swaying in the gentle breeze.  
  
"But.but my lord?" Jaken began to question, but was silenced when Sesshomaru gave him a dangerous glare. "Yes my lord." He said, and the both of them disappeared into the forest. I made sure they were well out of distance, before turning to the now unconscious Inuyasha. The hoari was already patching itself up, and the blood soaked on it was beginning to evaporate. He would be fully healed soon, and all that was left now was to remove the root in his chest and clean him up. So I did so, pulling the wood away effortlessly, and picking him up in my arms gently, left off to the closest river I could find. Good thing there was one nearby. There I removed his shirt and cleaned the quickly shrinking wound with the clear water with one of my handkerchiefs. The blood on his body would not evaporate like it would were it on the hoari, so it all had to be cleaned off before it dried.  
  
*There's another. Where do I get the time?* 


	6. The Appology

Disclaimer: I only own the characters in this you don't recognize. Like Kojika. There will be more, I promise!  
Chatper 6  
  
That night, after he was cleaned and I had set his favorite blanket over him, I built a fire and watched the light dance across his tan face. I felt sorry for him yes, and it was no wonder he wanted to be stronger. No wonder he wanted the power to be a demon. With siblings like that, who wouldn't want to be? So twas' his brother whom had been bothering him, trying to kill him and such. But why did Sesshomaru want him dead. I had heard of brothers being jealous of each other, and then trying to kill each other, but what had Sesshomaru to be jealous of? What was it that Inuyasha had that the Lord of the  
  
Western lands would want? The thoughts continued to race through my head.  
  
Inuyasha's father.what kind of a fellow was he. What was his name.?  
  
Ah, Seinishi, that was it.  
  
Menimori, Seinishi of the Western lands. That was it. Seinishi..  
  
I had heard of his tales long ago. He was supposedly the most powerful and feared of the dog demon tribes.  
  
But there was something else.that thing that made him revered. Oh yes, it was the fact that he had taken on a dragon once and one, but only merely.  
  
But that would make no sense. If that were true, then Sesshomaru might have beaten me had he taken the opportunity. But something stopped him. Maybe it was that he didn't have the confidence to fight with me, or that he had no care in fighting me anyhow.  
  
Small gasps coming from before me threw me out of my thoughts.  
  
Inuyasha was coming around. And he looked angry again.  
  
"Why did you save me?!" He asked, after taking a look at his surroundings. "Why? It was my business not yours!" So foolish and young he was. The pride within his heart would hurt him someday, that was a certain, and nothing I did could rid him of it. This pride was forcing him to try to act like an adult and take care of his own business, but yet, it made him just like a child.  
  
"You would have died." I replied calmly, my voice very quiet and hard to hear by mortal ears. Inuyasha picked it up just fine.  
  
"I don't care. It's my life and stay out of it!" He shouted. He watched him innocently. His golden eyes glistened angrily, watching me to wait for my reply.  
  
"It's too late Inuyasha. I'm in your life, and no matter how far you run, or what you do, I will always be there to save you. I'm too involved and you know it." I spoke to him gently, trying to calm him down. He didn't take the hint.  
  
"Shut your mouth. I will never be stronger if I think your always going to be there to save me!" This was beginning to make me angry.  
  
"Shut your trap." I hissed at him, and instantly he sat still watching me quietly with a look of surprise upon face. He had never seen me in a fit of rage before, and I'm sure he never wanted to. "Stop being so proud and selfish Inuyasha. You are not the strongest person in the world, and for your information, no one is! No one can be the strongest, because there is always someone stronger than you, and you just have to get used to it and learn to survive. You can't take everything on yourself Inuyasha.some things, but not all, and at the moment Sesshomaru is one of those things you can't take on, on yourself. You will someday, that is a given. When I no longer live and you are stronger and wiser than you are now. Then you will be ready to defeat your elder brother. But for now, you are still young, and still ill trained, and so you must wait with the virtue of patience 'til you do have the strength." I had let out my anger for that moment, but I was calmer now, more ready to listen to his words. We were both silent for a moment, and the both of us occupied ourselves with watching the crackling of the flames, watching as the wood was devoured. I hadn't meant to unleash on him like that, but his foolishness had drove me to it. Now I felt like apologizing.  
  
But just as I opened my mouth, he spoke. "I'm sorry." He replied. Inuyasha was apologizing? Had I really scared him that bad?  
  
"I.I had never looked at the world that way and I didn't mean to act like a stuck up jerk. I.I am sorry." He told me, his gaze staring at the floor.  
  
"I'm sorry too." I said. "I didn't mean to blow up on you."  
  
"You had every right to." He replied, not ever moving his eyes from the fire. "I was being a jerk."  
  
"Yeah, but every one is at some point." I replied playfully. He looked up and gave me a simple statement.  
  
"Kojika, I will learn to the best of my ability anything you have to teach me. I no longer want to be a full demon if it will make me something like him. Now I want to increase the power I have now as far as it can go."  
  
"Nice to hear." I replied, closing my eyes tiredly. It had been such a difficult day.  
  
"I say we retire for the night. Good night Inuyasha." I said after a moment.  
  
"Good night." He replied, and he squeezed back under the covers again. I fell asleep with my head resting against the tree behind me.  
  
*How was that? I think it's very short by my standards. Oh well* 


	7. Kojika dead?

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and co. are all characters of Rumiko Takahashi's fabulous world of anime. I would love to go to that world.but hey, I'm human and I'm real. Darn.  
  
Chapter 7  
  
That was one of the last few nights I ever spent in Inuyasha's presence. It was two days later, that we were unfairly ripped from each others grasps never to see the other by the campfire again. But now I get ahead of myself.  
  
After that night that he and I had apologized, we worked on his swordsmanship and upon his herbal knowledge. Now he paid all the attention he had to learning what I knew, hoping that one day he could be just as old as I, and from his own words "just as wise". I managed to teach him the herbal mixtures for the healing of small wounds and to evaporate the usual poisons from food drugging and small demon inflictions. But by the next day, I could teach no more.  
  
We had been traveling down the old dirt road, leading to a small village down in a valley hidden behind a set of tall mountains, and by now, we had already climbed to the top of where the two land forms met. The day was cool, the clouds numerous, and the flowers in the brightest bloom I had ever seen. Yet something was wrong.very wrong.  
  
There were no birds singing.  
  
I didn't tell this to Inuyasha, thinking that perhaps the lack of trees presented the lack of chirps. So I simply shoved that thought into the back of my head.  
  
But then as we reached the peak of the trail, and were finally able to see the valley below.  
  
I was heart struck.  
  
The entire village was under attack.by demons. I could smell the blood up here, and no doubt Inuyasha had it stuck in his nose. I gave him one glance, in which he returned it with a silent yet urgent plea to help them. I nodded, and we raced down the slope, hoping it wasn't too late to save the people down below.  
  
I made it there a split second before Inuyasha, and leapt gracefully on a bug eyed demon that was slowing tearing off the arms of a young maiden, and against her loud pleas to stop and leave her alone, he persisted. I grabbed him by the neck and sliced it open with my claws, jumping off just as he spewed blood, simply to get the girl out of the way of the down pour of red. I couldn't let her even be soaked in such filth. The demon stumbled back, hands at neck, and fell in a suffering heap until I cut off his head completely with my sword. One down.more to go.  
  
By this time Inuyasha had already leapt in and sliced two of the demons to shreds, first cutting one open with his claws, and then using the blood on his hands as blades to slice the other up. I had taught him well how to use that attack, and he used it like a master.  
  
Fact was, he sat there until he had mastered it with another demons blood.  
  
Next I attacked a cat mix like demon who was chasing after a few humans, and left her blood soaked body to the floor. A crow like thing jumped at me and I sliced him a few times with my sword, before heading onto a moth like being that was beginning to suck a little boy dry. By the time I killed it, the boy was dead. But I couldn't stop to bury the boy, for there were too many demons yet to tangle with. And so this same thing continued on, me saving the innocent mortals as fast as I could, and Inuyasha practicing with his bloody claws on other demons. But I did not win this battle.  
  
It happened when I was the farthest from Inuyasha. I came upon a group of demons that were incredibly smart. Two jumped at me, and when I attacked, they jumped out of the way, and in the same pattern they kept at it.and I never saw the other demon come from behind. I sliced me through the chest with it's claws.filthy blood stained claws, and then as to add more damage, the snake of a demon bit me at the neck, leaving a poison in me that I could feel coursing through my veins like a dark blood. Everything was silent, and the only thing I could here was my heart beating.and slowing. When I hit the ground, could see Inuyasha screaming, but I couldn't tell what it was he was saying. I couldn't read his thoughts do to the lack of the quickly gushing blood from my chest. I could hardly even see. The sky was very beautiful, the perfect kind of blue, like that of a blue jays eggs. It was even speckled white with clouds. Then I saw another sword fly down on me, and even more blood poured. But when I stretched back to see who had done it, I found a human.arms raised.sword high.bloody face.angry eyes. And he stabbed me again.  
  
I could no longer feel the blood gushing, the pain, the warmth of the sticky red on my sides. I could just see the sky, that perfect blue sky, and fading vision of it. Then I saw more blood spray from over above, and Inuyasha's frightened face hanging over mine.  
  
Why was he so scared?  
  
Hadn't I told him I wouldn't be here forever?  
  
I reached up with the last of my strength and touched his face, gently rubbing it affectionately, before casting him away with the last bit of force I had, just as another human crashed down on my shoulder with his lance.  
  
It was then, my vision completely faded, and I could only feel death pulling me down. I was gone.forever. Finally dead.  
  
*cry* I know it was sad. But this had to happen if I was to get to the scenes I wanted to. Forgive me for killing off such a good character.* 


	8. Inuyasha's Thoughts

*I'm sorry for being so late with this chapter, and I truly apologize but school was beginning to tug at my time.grrrr.*  
  
Disclaimer: If you don't know that I don't own Inuyasha and co. then go to the other disclaimer's and they'll tell you.  
Chapter 8  
  
He didn't know why he had thought of her, this dark starry night he sat up in his tree, watching the stars. Why had he?  
  
They had just come from a major battle, and had settled down in this clearing of the forest, he insisting that there were other demons out there, and that if they didn't move farther, that one with a shikon shard would attack them. Kagome had of course insisted that they were staying there and any demon that attacked, if it wasn't Naraku of Sesshomaru, could most likely be beaten. He had of course given in to Kagome, poor him.  
  
In the beginning he could argue with her about the simplest things, such as what she wore or how she acted. And now he found that he could no longer keep his own when she came into one of her mood swings. What had happened to him, he Inuyasha, the careless blood thirsty hanyou that only desired the Shikon no Tama for more power? What had changed?  
  
And why had he thought of his elder master on this night, when all was at peace and he sat there gazing at the stars, now in his human form due to the new moon.  
  
It's because you feel secure now with your friends, just as you did with Kojika on nights like this, his mind told him. That had to be it. What other reason was there.  
  
That day.the day that Kojika died. He had been so heartbroken and yet so angry.  
  
How could that stupid human do that.hadn't he seen that they had been helping them in defeating the demons? Hadn't he seen?  
  
She had died, and no matter what he had done, he hadn't been able to save her. But in a rage, he had killed every demon there, including the human who had killed her. But upon sorrow for her, had buried every single being that he and she had slaughtered. Then he buried her under what he called the "Firefly" tree, because is was always surrounded by dragon flies. There he had buried her and left her name scratched into the tree by his own talons. After her death, though, he had lost all belief in caring for humans, and he again wanted to have more power.  
  
If I had had more power, maybe I might have been able to save her? Was his continual thought. Only if.  
  
Only if he had been a pure bred demon, a full blooded extremely powerful demon.  
  
Maybe then he would have been able to save her. And there wasn't a day he didn't feel remorse for what had happened. From that day on, he fought to be stronger, killed simply because he was annoyed to exhaustion, and began to seek strength in something that could give it to him quickly. The one thing he found.was the Shikon no Tama. But then there was Kikyo guarding it, that miko whom he had fallen in love with. But why had he fallen in love with her in the first place?  
  
At first, it was just for the jewel. He simply wanted the jewel, to become a full bred demon so that he could show everyone that he had the power to support his words, so that he could beat Sesshomaru and any demon that threatened his life. But every time he attacked Kikyo, he could never kill her, and she could never kill him.  
  
Even at death, she had not killed him, but put him in a deep sleep for fifty years. Even then?  
  
And the only reason he could not kill her, was that she reminded him of Kojika too much.  
  
She had that same wisdom, that same personality to her, that she knew more than he did, and she could save herself whenever she needed to. Kikyo, had only attracted his interests for that. Had he never been so close to Kojika, he would have slit open Kikyo's chest and pulled free her heart like it was nothing. But then, he would have never met Kagome.  
  
She too reminded him of Kojika, with her black hair and brown eyes, and the spirit about her that showed that she was indignant to what any one said and would fight for herself and anyone else she saw needed the help. Kagome believed in having an equilibrium between species of demon, human, hanyou, and miko. And ever day, she fought for that belief, just as she did for the Shikon no Tama. Inuyasha looked down upon the sleeping figures of Kagome and Shippo, the little fox demon that followed them about ever since they had saved him from the Lightning brothers. Kagome's raven black hair was sprawled around her delicate face in an array, and her beautiful brown eyes were closed in slumber.  
  
Soft breaths echoed through the cold night.  
  
Miroku the monk, a hentai in the worst way (would touch the behind of every girl he met but hadn't touched Kagome's in a while because he knew Inuyasha would hurt him far worse than a slap could) was sleeping against a large oak tree, his staff leaning on his shoulder. Sango the demon exterminator was sleeping in her own blanket, her boomerang lying right at her side, for the moment she would need to fight if she were attacked during sleep. Kirara, her fire cat was small as he usually was, sleeping just at the head of her pillow, right next to her left ear. And here he was up in the tree, the only one awake. He wanted to make sure they weren't attacked by night, now that they had just gotten their latest shikon shard.  
  
But what was it that kept him awake?  
  
Was it the fact that tonight was the new moon, and that he, Inuyasha, was a human for the night? Or perhaps it was the fact that he felt closer to his new friends than he ever had. Every day was a joy, with the different views each person had, and the multiple fighting strategies everyone came up with during battle. Everyday, he found himself desiring the shikon no tama even less, thinking that he could find power without it. But then that memory of Kojika would come back.her face pale with surprise.her deep maroon blood gushing from her wounds.and that look of indignity on her face.that she did not want his help.for he might be harmed. Even in death she cared for his safety, his master.  
  
And she had helped him far more in life than the shikon could, he saw that now. She had taught him to wield a sword, which skills he used for the tetsaiga every time he battled, and how to keep a strong and clear mind about things when they got rough.she taught him that. But in grief of her death, he had chosen to forget all she taught him, because it hurt him to much to think of.too much to want to review. And yet, it had all come back when he met Kagome.Kikyo could never strike the full change in him.but Kagome had.  
  
'Course he would save Kikyo when the time came about, but he never felt this level of longing for her like he did for Kagome. Every time they fought, he found himself keeping more of an eye on Kagome than on the opponent, and whenever she was in trouble, he always knew. He would love nothing more than to be with Kagome for the rest of his days, but then there was Kikyo.whom would not let him be. Ever since she was revived.brought back to life, the image of her bloody body and that sacred arrow flying at him was enough to keep him loyal to her. He felt, that the only way to free her spirit would be to die with her and go to hell. If only.if only he had never met Kikyo. Then he and Kagome would have no trouble at all at being together.  
  
There was a sound in the bushes.  
  
What was that.?  
  
He kept his violet eyes set on the bush nearest Kagome. It had rustled, shaking almost violently as if it were a cage to something vicious. There was no smell.no scent or trace that anything was there.  
  
Best to take a look.  
  
Inuyasha jumped down from his branch, his nose working over time in the search for something he hoped was just the wind.  
  
He creped ever so quietly, like a cat to it's prey, waiting and glancing about for any sign of life. Now he was standing right over the bush. Yet there was still no scent, and finally he became agitated and had to swipe at it.  
  
He of course wiped the small tree clear from it's roots and the most beautiful and mystical creature jumped out to give him one swift glance before racing off into the moonless sky. A red dragon.small and sleek, glistening as if it's scales were water. It displayed two long whiskers extending, one from each side of it's mouth, and it's eyes were a beautiful gold.just like his. It had four legs, two tiny ones in the back, and two tiny ones in the front. This dragon reminded him of a lizard, but it was too graceful and beautiful to be one. The spike like hairs stuck off it's head and glided with the wind as it flew off, a pair of reflecting metallic wings flashing in the starlight.  
  
So beautiful.but what was it doing around the camp.  
  
He doubted it was after the shikon shards, dragons didn't hunt for those. They had too much power already.  
  
Maybe it was Kikyo's dragon come to spy on us?  
  
No.  
  
Kikyo's dragons were spirit catchers that had light blue scales, insect like legs under the head, red eyes, and not a wing to be found.  
  
Who knew how they flew?  
  
Then why was that dragon spying on them.and why couldn't he tell it was a dragon.  
  
Never the less, there was no sense of a demon or dragon left in the vicinity, so he could finally go back to his perch. But he doubted that he would be sleeping much this night, if any at all.  
  
*Send me reviews! With reviews I can have the courage and the inspiration to keep this going. You may even find a surprise.* 


	9. Deep Sleep

*I usually set up two chapters at a time, but that's only because I had eight chapters finished when I started this site. Things may be a little slower in the future, so bear with me, I'm a sophomore in a good school that gives a lot of homework.Grrr..*  
  
Disclaimer: If I did own Inuyasha and co. it would be the coolest thing. I could simply call Inuyasha to kick butt when ever I meet someone who won't leave me alone. *sigh*.  
  
Chapter 9  
The day was warm and exciting when she opened her eyes. Fresh dew dripping from the tips of the blades of grass, trees swaying in the morning breeze, clouds drifting across the baby blue sky.  
  
What a day!  
  
But where was Inuyasha?  
  
She found him in a matter of moments.  
  
Silver hair, pointy dog like ears, red hoari with the tetsaiga propped up on his side, golden eyes closed in what looked like drifted sleep.  
  
He must have stayed up all night to watch the camp!  
  
How sweet and protective he had become, Inuyasha. Even over the circumstances of his continuous love for Kikyo that broke his heart, his blood lusty elder brother, and their constant hunt for the shikon shards and Naraku, so that several incidents could be avenged.  
  
Poor Inuyasha.  
  
Sango was still asleep, Kirara's little head rising at the sound of Kagome's movement, and then settling back to slumber. Miroku, staff still leaning on his shoulder, head bowed as if in prayer, and little Shippo snuggled deeply within her sleeping bag, little breaths escaping his little mouth. She was the only one awake this fine morning.  
  
So what was there to do?  
  
Still Algebra to finish.  
  
But who wanted to do that?  
  
Why not take a quick walk to the spring nearby to wash up a little and gather some water for the travel they would all take that day.  
  
She stood, brushing off the tiny leaves and particles of dirt that had collected to her green navy skirt, and walked on, putting on her loafers and loving the sound of the grass crushing beneath her feet. It wasn't long before she had made it to the spring, and there, she washed her body, making sure to keep her bow, arrows, and a few rocks in case Miroku or Inuyasha decided to take a peek.  
  
The water was cold, and caused her flesh to break out in goose bumps the minute she submerged, but once she stuck her head back out of the rippling surface, she got used to it.  
  
No one bothered her during the entire bath.a miracle really, and she climbed out and changed into her black skirt with the light blue top. She was brushing her hair as she made her way back to the camp, but she didn't make it there as quickly as she thought she would.  
  
She was starting to get feelings, like there was something in the area.a demon.  
  
But where.where was it?  
  
She turned around searching for whatever presence made her shiver as it approached, ready to fire off her sacred arrow at any demon that decided to try to kill her for a shikon shard. What she saw, she could not understand.  
  
There was a figure, dressed all in black, with a heavy hood covering its eyes and a beautiful silver katana on it's back. Its pants were loose and baggy and the face covered with a small piece of black fabric. All that could be seen were its eyes. It's brown, dazzling eyes. Its feet were covered in wicker sandals, and although it didn't look too out of the ordinary, a red dragon was sitting peacefully around its neck, set.watching, golden eyes dancing in the rays of the sun. The ninja like figure was crouching, and in the blink of an eye, it was gone.dragon and all.  
  
Kagome figured it was a delusion of some sort, being that it was only there for a moment, before heading back to the camp to an already awake hentai monk.  
  
"Where did you go Lady Kagome?" he asked, as he began to stoke the new fire he had just made with another stick, his staff still leaning on that same shoulder. He looked well rested.  
  
"I went to bathe." Kagome responded.  
  
"Darn." She heard him mutter. She already knew what he meant. He'd missed another opportunity to see something he wished he had.  
  
"Too bad for you." She teased, welcoming Shippo as he woke up and crawled to the fire, scavenging for a sandwich in which Kagome already had out for him. He grabbed it hungrily. Soon Sango and Kirara were awake as well, and every one debated on who would wake Inuyasha up for the day ahead.  
  
"I say Kagome should do it." Miroku threw out.  
  
"Why me?" Kagome shuddered. She already knew the answer.  
  
"You're the only one that is guaranteed to live when you wake Inuyasha up. He wouldn't dare hurt you at all." Sango responded as she pet Kirara on the back. "Besides, you're the only one who can use sit in case he can't be awoken."  
  
"But.but." Kagome tried, but they were all watching her with an we're-not- changing-our-minds look.  
  
"Fine.I'll wake him up." She stood up, and feeling everyone's eyes on her, strode towards the tree Inuyasha was sleeping in.  
  
"Hey.Wake up Inuyasha!" She shouted.  
  
He didn't move.  
  
"Inuyasha. Wake up.it's time to go!"  
  
Still no response.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted one last time, as Kirara jumped on her shoulder and rubbed affectionately against her cheek. "He won't wake up." This wasn't like Inuyasha. He was usually up and ready to go before anyone else.But there had been that argument on where to stay that night.because it was the new moon.  
  
"He was up all night." Shippo shouted as he ran up to her with his chocolate smudged face. He had found her candy tray.  
  
"Shippo, how many times have I told you not to just grab the candy in my bag when you see it. You'll make yourself sick to your stomach." Kagome grabbed a handkerchief from her bag and cleaned Shippo's face as he told her his reasoning.  
  
"Inuyasha was up all night. I saw it. Before I went to sleep he was staring at the sky, and when I woke up a few hours ago to go to the restroom, he was still awake, looking around for something from the tree. I don't think we're going to wake him up any time soon."  
  
Both he and Kagome watched the sleeping hanyou, Kagome sticking the dirty handkerchief back in her bag.  
  
"Well, we have to find some way of transporting him." Miroku replied as he came up to Kagome's side, his golden staff vibrating with every ding of the circular rings at it's emblem.  
  
"Kirara can do it!" Sango replied, placing her boomerang on her back, ready to travel another day. "Right Kirara?" She asked.  
  
The little fire cat mewed before leaping gracefully to her shoulder and rubbing her face the same way she had with Kagome.  
  
"Alright Kirara, take your full form." Shippo said bouncing on the cats back. Instantly Kirara had grown to that of the size of a horse.  
  
"Now, how do we get him down?" Kagome asked the question more to herself than to everyone else.  
  
"That is a good question. We don't want to disturb him and accidentally get him to kill one of us." Miroku said.  
  
"Then how?" Sango asked.  
  
"I know!" Shippo bounced with glee. He instantly took his large pink orb- like form and floated up to Inuyasha, easily shoving him off his branch and bringing him down delicately on Kirara's back.  
  
Inuyasha hadn't stirred a bit.  
  
Shippo retook his original form and hopped onto the ground, stretching happily.  
  
"I'll get my bike." Kagome replied, as she walked towards the fire.  
  
They would have gotten breakfast, but there was something that just felt so urgent in the air, like they couldn't stay there any longer or something bad would happen.  
  
Bad karma so to speak.  
  
Shippo jumped into the basket on the steering wheel of the bicycle just as Kagome positioned herself on it for take off.  
  
Sango made sure Inuyasha wouldn't fall off of Kirara's back, and soon.they were off on their journey again. Kagome couldn't help but constantly look back to see if Inuyasha had stirred yet.  
  
It wasn't like him, falling asleep and then not being awake when they awoke. Inuyasha had been up all night, all for his worries of theirs and his safety.  
  
He had worried himself half to death simply because he was used to getting attacked by a demon that sent him into a near to death situation on the new moon.  
  
And she had forced him to stay at that spot, and then had gone to sleep on him. She felt incredibly guilty that the reason for his staying up like that was her fault.  
  
She couldn't help but feel it in the air.  
  
*What do you think? I guarantee chapter ten will be good. I'm just not sure how long it will be yet. I've only got about a page or so written. I'll try to load it up soon though! Since I have three days out of school, I promise I'll work on it!* 


	10. The Fight Begins!

*Here's chapter ten, but unfortunately, everything I put in it, had to be lengthened to chapter eleven. I guarantee this is a good chapter.*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. although I wish I did, but hey.there's always something like this for people to wish they had.so it's nothing new.  
  
Chapter 10  
  
They came to the inn at around half past eight, when the tiny slit of moon was just beginning to appear in the sky and the stars were spreading like a blanket of diamonds on the deep blue night. Miroku got them in the same way he usually did.  
  
"There's a rather large ominous cloud hanging right over this Inn. I could place seals on your gates and posts if you will let me and my friends stay the night here." He had said.  
  
The owner let them in immediately, afraid that a dark cloud could get rid of his business.  
  
If only he realized it was monks like Miroku that were getting rid of his business, not ominous dark clouds!  
  
Anyhow, the room was of a good size, with plenty of blankets in the corner for several pallets to be made, and a great amount of food waiting for them there.  
  
They ate it of course, after the host had asked them if they had received the food he sent.  
  
Inuyasha had slept the entire day away, and Kagome had sealed his meal up in a few zip-lock bags she had for when he woke up with a hungry stomach like he usually did, and feeling a little tense, decided to go outside and enjoy the fresh night air. Sango, Shippo, and Kirara went exploring, and Miroku left out to go put up his fake talismans around the inn, and so, the room was empty but for Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome smiled at how childlike Inuyasha looked as he slept, and with a chuckle at the thought of what he may have looked like as a kid, she left the room. She found a ladder leading to the roof, and thinking it a good place to watch the stars, climbed it to the top.  
  
Inuyasha awoke to a room he didn't recognize. Ink paintings hung on the wall, the aroma of the meal he had just missed and the scent of Kagome and the others floating across the room like feathers, and the cool night breeze seeping through the bamboo blinds that covered the door way. It was a nice room, but.how had he gotten here and where was everyone?  
  
Inuyasha sat up, blinking a few times to get his eyes used to the candle light that was drifting across the walls like dancing spirits.  
  
It had to be an inn of some sort.  
  
There were enough blankets in the corner to be one.and there was a lot of food present recently.  
  
But where was everyone!?  
  
Inuyasha sniffed the air, and then the hard wood floor boards.  
  
Everyone's scent was very strong, presenting that they had only left a few minutes before in the least.  
  
He decided to go out and find everyone.especially Kagome.  
  
The cool wind welcomed him as he stepped out unto the grounds, his silver hair dancing in the breeze, dog like ears acting like funnels for sound. There was no one to be found.  
  
He looked up at the sky and found hundreds of stars twinkling down on him, and the tiny slit of the new moon beginning to change.  
  
So he was a hanyou again.at least his human night was over.  
  
"Hey you down there." He heard a familiar voice shout. Inuyasha spun to see the silhouette of Kagome on the roof, just above their supposed room. "I'm glad to see you finally woke up!" Kagome yelled to him.  
  
"There you are." Inuyasha was beginning to scream, but he found that the smile on her lips couldn't keep him in rage. "Why didn't you wake me up?" He asked as he jumped up to the roof right in front of her. Kagome was used to his jumping to high places by now, and thought nothing of his landing.  
  
"I tried, but you were sleeping too deeply. So instead we brought you with us." Kagome responded.  
  
"But a demon could have attacked, and I would have known to late." He was trying to keep his voice calm.  
  
"And we would have fought it off Inuyasha. You're not the only one who can fight you know." Kagome told him matter-of-factly. By now, she had her finger pointed in his face and that determined expression watching him. The image of his late master flashed in his head again.  
  
'Why.why am I just now remembering her?' He asked himself. 'Why?'  
  
Inuyasha sat down gently next to Kagome, and looked down at the ground, Kojika's image running through his head.  
  
She.she had died.  
  
And he had had to bury her.tears running down his cheeks.thoughts racing through his head.  
  
She had been killed by those she sought to protect.those she adored and loved.  
  
She had been killed.simply because she was a youkai.  
  
"Are you there Inuyasha!?" Came Kagome's persistent and agitated voice. It was enough to knock him out of his thoughts.  
  
"What?" He began to shout but he stopped himself before he could hurt her feelings. She pushed his gruffness aside, and continued with the question she had asked before.  
  
"Are you angry that we weren't able to wake you up before we left?" She looked him in the eyes, those golden eyes of his, and waited for a reply.  
  
Inuyasha came level to level with hers, and sighed. Beautiful.beautiful brown eyes, far prettier and more lively than Kikyo's could ever be. Why.why couldn't he forget the miko he had fallen for before.  
  
He didn't really love her, but he felt guilty at her death.  
  
"No.I'm not angry. But I would have preferred it that you guys did wake me up." He spoke softly, like the wind in the trees, and Kagome smiled gently to him.  
  
"I'm sorry I was so stubborn last night." She replied. "But I was frustrated and tired from the travel, and I only wanted to find a place to sleep. I didn't mean to keep you worried the entire night because of my stupid needs." She turned away to look at the ground.  
  
"No. Your needs weren't stupid. I was stupid for being difficult with you." He replied, feeling closer to Kagome than to anyone else in the world. She was the only one he could really talk to because he felt that she understood him somehow. Like they had a connection somewhere.. She was the only one in this world he could trust. He used to feel this trust for Kikyo, but then they had been fooled into betraying each other by Naraku, and then that trust had been abolished. He had also held the same trust for Kojika.that demon that was almost like his mother to him.mother and best friend. He truly missed her.  
  
"What's wrong?" Kagome asked.  
  
"What do you mean?" Inuyasha replied, watching Kagome closely.  
  
"You were thinking about something. Your face looked sad. What's wrong?" She was keeping eye contact and only worry was written over her smooth face.  
  
"I was reminded of someone I used to know.Someone who helped me when I was younger." He would tell her now. The first time in years he had ever brought his old friend into conversation. The only time he had ever talked to anyone about her in years.  
  
Now he would explain his tale.  
  
"Inuyasha!" He heard someone shout.  
  
He glanced down to the ground to find Miroku running towards them. Inuyasha was on his feet in a matter of moments.  
  
"What's wrong!?" He shouted down.  
  
"Three demon's are coming this way. I think two of them are Kagura and Kanna!"  
  
Kagura and Kanna, Naraku's incarnations. Coming this way.  
  
"Let's go." Came Kagome's stern voice. "We've got to fight them off and protect the people here!" Inuyasha picked her up and they jumped off the roof together, landing gently on the ground.  
  
"Come on!" Miroku shouted just as the first blast of debris hit one of the small houses of the village. Inuyasha bent down for Kagome to get on his back, and when she was hanging on, they sped towards the attack site, wind whipping roughly through their hair.  
  
Miroku ran as fast as he could, and Inuyasha couldn't help but mutter that this time, they could finally kill off Naraku's two most important incarnations and be free to get at  
  
Naraku without annoyance.  
  
But Naraku wasn't at the scene of the three attacking.  
  
He got there and let Kagome down from his back.  
  
Miroku had been right about Kagura and Kanna though. They both stood there, Kanna's finely clipped white hair, and white child's kimono blowing in the breeze and her dark emotionless eyes never blinking. Kagura had her decorated fan out and in front of her, and her red eyes looked menacing behind her silk black hair. Her many kimono's were also swaying in the breeze. But where was the other, this third demon that Miroku mentioned. Had he spoken falsely?  
  
Sango and Kirara in it's large form came up from behind, Sango already situated in her demon exterminating suit and her boomerang on her back.  
  
"So you're all here. I knew you would be." Came Kagura's mischievous voice.  
  
"What do you want?" Inuyasha shouted.  
  
"Jewel shards of course. What else do you think I want? I don't just go around abolishing villages for nothing you know." Said Kagura.  
  
"You won't get them." Kagome cried, holding her little jar of jewel shards firmly in her hand. "I'd die before I let you have them!"  
  
"That can be arranged." Kagura laughed. She raised up her fan, and with a swift flick of her wrist, sent white blades flying towards them. Inuyasha's only thought was to protect Kagome.  
  
He thrust her out of the way with his own body, and turned to give a laughing Kagura a glare. She had gotten him in the shoulder.  
  
"Inuyasha. Are you alright?" Kagome asked, sitting up and looking at his wound.  
  
"It's nothing." Inuyasha shrugged her hands away from his shoulder and stood up, whispering for her to find a protective hiding spot right away.  
  
"Yes." Kagome answered, running behind a part of the village walls that still remained after Kagura's attack. Shippo and Myoga were with her.  
  
"Good." Inuyasha whispered. "Now it's time to get this over with." He reached into his bloody shoulder, draping his claws in his blood and threw it like blades at the two girls.  
  
"Iron Reaper, Soul Stealer!" He shouted, just before Kagura stepped back and Kanna stepped up, reflecting his attack back at him. He had forgotten her mirror could do that, but he managed to get out of the way just in time.  
  
"Darn." He whispered to himself. They needed a plan.  
  
Luckily, Miroku and Sango had already come up with one.  
  
"Boomerang bone!" Sango shouted from behind the two sisters. She had used Inuyasha's attack as a distraction so she could sneak behind them. Unfortunately Kanna was able to turn in time to reflect the boomerang, in which Sango caught it back in mid air. But her attack had given enough time for Kirara to attack Kagura and Miroku to open up his wind tunnel to suck in the two. Another unfortunate, was that Naraku's bees instantly swarmed in from the forest backdrop just in time.  
  
"Darn." He again breathed. These two were really prepared this time. But wait.there was something tugging at his senses.  
  
There was another one in this area.  
  
Another demon.  
  
But where?  
  
It just barely struck him a moment later.  
  
Underground.heading towards.Kagome!" He turned on a second's notice and raced towards Kagome's hiding spot, just barely shoving her out of the way as a pair of sharp green spikes popped out of the soil and stabbed him right through his chest.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted, but Inuyasha was watching the demon spikes.  
  
They were sprouting leaves.  
  
Those leaves turned into vines and wrapped tightly around his body, binding his arms and legs completely, paralyzing him from the neck down.  
  
It smelled like Naraku.but there was something else there.some other scent.  
  
Female.  
  
"Drat. You weren't supposed to get in my way." Came a feminine echo from the ground.  
  
He carefully looked down to see a head sticking up at him.  
  
Female alright.  
  
She came up, her body that of a women's except that it was completely light green in texture and that vines sprouted and covered her body like a kimono.  
  
"What are you?" Inuyasha croaked. He could feel his blood pouring out from his two wounds.  
  
"My name is Sukira, Naraku's newest incarnation."  
  
*There you go.good eh. I'll try to get eleven up soon.but my computer has a Multiple Personality Disorder and only decides what it likes, to be uploaded.* 


	11. Past Returns

*Sorry I was so late in updating this one. I had so much work from school that I was forced to get a minimal of about five hours of sleep a night. But here it is, so all the nail biters wandering what will happen next, can now finish this scene.*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but it would be the coolest if I did! I would never be teased or messed with!  
  
Chapter 11  
  
Sukira.  
  
So that's what it's name was.  
  
And it had simply been hiding underground the entire time, waiting patiently to try and kill Kagome.  
  
So that's what Naraku was after this time. Just like the time he took over Sango's younger brother Kohaku and tried to have her killed by his scythe.  
  
He truly wanted Kagome dead. And he would do all in his power to do so.  
  
But here Inuyasha was, trapped head to toe in the deadly vines, fresh little thorns causing him to bleed close to death. And he had jumped in the way.to save her.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted. How had it happened? One moment she was safe behind the wall, arrow out, bow stretched, ready to attack an available target.  
  
The next.Inuyasha was stabbed and then bound and she was shoved off into the ground, away from the deadly grip of mother nature's vines.  
  
She needed to help him..  
  
"Inuyasha!" Miroku shouted, running towards Inuyasha's vines. Sukira turned towards Miroku and disappeared as if she was never there.  
  
Almost as if she were a ghost. Miroku stopped in his tracks, looking around for the mischevious little nymph like incarnation. Before he could move, Sukira had appeared behind him and stabbed him in the back with a thorny tendril, his face quick with pain, and then calm with unconciousness.  
  
"There's one.who's next?" Asked this evil creature from the core of earth. She raised her bloody tendril and licked it gently, as if the blood were a delicious treat. Then smiling, she turned around towards Kagome, her white teeth glistening in the moonlight. Her hair was bunched at the top of her head, red like that of a rose's pedals. Her eyes were completely black, as if there was nothing underneath the eyelids of this living-walking rose.  
  
"Time to finish my job." She mentioned with a sort of sing-song voice. Kagome gasped in the exact instant that Sukira jumped, and she would have been dead had Sango not jumped in the way so quickly and shielded her off with her boomerang bone. Sukira's smile widened, as if she expected this action, and with the most disgusting snake like tongue, she licked out and stabbed Sango in the neck. The wound didn't look to serious, but for some reason Kagome could see a tiny red glow flow into Sango's body, as if lead through the veins of the blood stream.  
  
She had been poisoned.  
  
But the poison was working far to fast to be normal.  
  
In a matter of moments, Sango was sputtering on the ground, her boomerang bone lying right next to her, her body motionless except for the continuous jerking and twisting of her face.  
  
"Sango!" Kagome shouted. "Miroku!" But they were both down and unconscious now, and the only ones left were Kirara and Shippo.  
  
Shippo of course tried to stand in the way, and sadly, Sukira got to him too, no matter how Kagome tried to protect him by picking him up and running.  
  
Next was Kirara, who jumped at the nymph, but was cut over to the side by Kagura's wind blades. Kagome stopped, beginning to sob crazily because everyone had been struck down.  
  
She had to do something she had to save them.  
  
Kagome stopped, and laid the poisoned Shippo down on the ground gently.  
  
If this was her last battle, then she would take Sukira with her, and save Inuyasha. She would do it.because Sukira had hurt her in the one place that caused her her most anguish.  
  
Her heart.  
  
Kagome took her archery stance, reaching back and grabbing an arrow and slipping it tightly into the string, ready to attack.  
  
She already had her target positioned on Sukira, and that witch was still smiling.those white teeth still glistening in the moonlight.  
  
Maybe I should shoot those pearly whites right out of her mouth. Kagome thought in a fit of rage.  
  
With that in mind, she sent her arrow flying, only to miss her target by an inch or two, and get swept up in a thin like string that wrapped around her and pinned her to the tree behind her.  
  
Kanna was the one who threw out the fine strong web, and she played with it like a child would with a yoyo, pulling and then loosening it gently, her mirror in one hand, and the other hand fooling with the strings. Any tighter and the string would cut her neck open.  
  
Inuyasha watched from his bind, his loss of blood beginning to cloud his vision.  
  
He had to save Kagome.but how? he was just as trapped as her.  
  
But.he promised he would protect her.he had to do something. Inuyasha fought.fought hard against his binds, causing only his wounds to further open, and more to be made.  
  
By now he didn't care if he died.  
  
His only thought was that Kagome live.even if he didn't.  
  
But no matter how he tried, he couldn't free himself from the vines that licked at his blood like a snake to the air.  
  
He couldn't escape.  
  
Sukira floated up to Kagome and touched her black hair, playing with it if you would.  
  
"Such an ugly color your hair. It should be green.or red perhaps. Here, let me take care of it for you!" she said, beginning to pull on Kagome's hair, laughing as Kagome screamed and tried to reach up to stop the rough tug on her scalp.  
  
'I wish that darned nymph will burn in hell!' Inuyasha thought furiously.  
  
Yes.fire.plenty of it to fry her to death.  
  
Then.almost as if by on cue, a large bright red fireball flew like a racing bird through the sky and right into Sukira's face. In a matter of moments, she was a shriveled black heap on the ground.fried so fast that only one quick screech was able to echo from her O shaped mouth.  
  
She was dead now.wonderful, but.who threw the fireball.  
  
Again out of no where, a red dragon came racing out, his back lit with tiny flames, and his flame shaped tale swishing swiftly as he raced down towards Kanna.  
  
It was the same dragon Inuyasha had seen the night before!  
  
In an instant, Kanna had brought up her mirror on the tiny lizard, and was prepared to reflect it away.  
  
But this dragon wasn't stupid.  
  
It flew up above Kanna in one of the swiftest movements Inuyasha had ever seen, and had punctured Kanna in the back of the neck with it's teeth from behind. Of course,  
  
Kanna fell back, her eyes closing gently as she landed on the ground with a soft thud. Was the dragon's bite poisonous?  
  
Kagura saw this and growled, the wind beginning to pick up, tossing the little dragon about madly, and it fought to keep balanced in the thick wind.  
  
It was then, that the third surprise jumped out.a creature wearing completely black.  
  
A ninja of some sort.  
  
It had the veil and everything over the mouth, a large heavy set cloak surrounding it's entire body down to the knee, and large bottomed black pants, flapping almost like a butterflies wings in the heavy wind. No hair could be seen, and yet he could tell it had black hair.same shade as the clothing.  
  
In an instant, this mysterious person had landed on the ground, a unconscious Kagura falling back.eyes still half way open.blank stare in his direction. She hit the ground and the wind completely stopped, everything still once more. The creature put away a sword Inuyasha had never seen it draw, and turned dark eyes shining from the heavy black lashes that surrounded them.  
  
Who was this? And why had it saved them.  
  
The creature took a look about, and began to walk, the little red dragon coming up and landing on it's shoulder. It patted the dragon as if it were a friend, and then came up to  
  
Sango, the closest to it from it's landing position.  
  
It bent down and took of it's glove.reaching towards her like she was a child, and in an instant of fear at what this creature might do, Inuyasha had to shout.  
  
"Don't touch her!" He shouted. His rage was beginning to burn at his insides and the vines were loosening quickly. Whoever this was, couldn't be allowed to touch anyone.  
  
Who knew what side it was on?  
  
The ninja looked at Inuyasha, it's eyes seeming to laugh although he couldn't see a smile.  
  
But with that look came a piece of understanding in Inuyasha's head.almost like a telepathic message.  
  
'I won't hurt her. But she will die if the poison isn't taken out right away.' It knew Sango was poisoned.  
  
But.how.not even he knew Sango was poisoned and he had been close up and watching. There was something familiar here.  
  
The cloaked figure again bent down, and with this touched the bite that was on Sango's neck. For some reason, Inuyasha could see a red glow, almost like liquid light, flow out of Sango's body and into the figures hand, in which it immediately thrust it's pale hand into the soil, and dispensed of the poison.  
  
Of course! The poison was natural to nature, and so the earth was able to destroy the poison with touch.  
  
But how did this figure know that already.  
  
Next came Shippo, in which again Inuyasha saw the red glow and the dissipation of the glow into the ground.  
  
Once that was done, the figure snipped the web like coils around Kagome with it abnormally sharp talon-like nails, and with healing powers Inuyasha had never seen before, healed the red marks on Kagome's skin, and the wounds on Miroku and Kirara.  
  
Last was him.  
  
It came up to him, and for a moment they were face to face.brown eyes meeting gold.  
  
Beautiful eyes she had.seemed to dance in the moonlight with a golden richness to them.  
  
"Hold still." It said. The voice was feminine.and familiar.  
  
She raised it's claws and sliced the vines apart easily, freeing Inuyasha from his bind and then healing his wounds with her magic touch. In a matter of moments, Inuyasha was completely healed and healthy.  
  
After five minutes, everyone was awake and living.  
  
But something wasn't right.  
  
There was something about this character that reminded him of someone.but who.Who did this remind him of.?  
  
Everyone was watching him.he sensed it now. They could all see the recollection in his eyes.as if he knew this person but couldn't remember who.  
  
Why?  
  
But then, in a matter of a moment.with her next words.he remembered who she was.  
  
"Hello Inuyasha. It's been a while."  
  
He gasped.  
  
Could it be.?  
  
Was it possible.?  
  
No.he had watched her die.the most agonizing and bloody death.  
  
But against all the odds, he said her name.simple and yet those letters held so much power.so many memories.  
  
"Kojika."  
  
*There you go, what do you think? Please send reviews! I'm starting to lose my inspiration on this story! I need a little encouragement for chapter twelve!" 


	12. Explanation for a Time

Chapter 12  
  
Disclaimor: I don't own Inuyasha and Co. although I truly wish I did.  
  
*Sorry it took so darn long, but there were a few reasons for delay. One, computer decided that it wasn't about to let me online for a while, and two.I was still trying to figure out where I wanted the rest of the story to go (got it started on a pang of inspiration)  
  
He couldn't believe it.  
  
How had she managed to survive?  
  
She had been stabbed at least three times.and poisoned by a snake demon if he remembered correctly.  
  
And he had also buried her!  
  
How could she still be alive.it was almost impossible!  
  
And yet there she was down the hill side.talking with the villagers and reasurring them that no other demons would come and the others had left but would never return.  
  
They all believed her of course.passing her by as a mere human.a mortal, in which she wasn't and could never ever be.  
  
His mind raced through the possibilities of how she could possibly be here.  
  
How?  
  
Well.she could have been found by Naraku or something and given a sacred jewel shard to survive with like Sango had.  
  
Nope.that was impossible.Kojika had died at least.what?...fifty-seven years or at least around there.  
  
Naraku had only been made at least a little more than fifty years ago.perhaps fifty-one.  
  
So that was impossible.  
  
Or what if Naraku had found the bones afterwards and managed to use them into his own structure.  
  
Nope again. She didn't smell like Naraku and plus.he could only use living demon flesh or at least flesh covered bones. He couldn't use the while diseased.  
  
Then maybe another witch like Urusawe, the one that brought Kikyo back brought Kojika back.  
  
Endless.Kojika wasn't known by many but her people and they were probably rejoicing that she was dead.Besides.she smelled like a living breathing human.which confused him even more.how come she smelled human when he knew very well she was a pure blooded demon at this time.  
  
And that little red dragon on her shoulder.perhaps it brought her to life.  
  
Or maybe.maybe she was reincarnated just like Kikyo had been to make Kagome.  
  
Perhaps that was the possibility.the only one that made even half sense.  
  
So she was reincarnated.but then how did she remember him if that was the case.  
  
Kagome hadn't remembered him even though she was Kikyo's reincarnation.so that was another problem.  
  
How the hell had Kojika survived!? This was driving him crazy!  
  
He was going to ask her.finally he would find out what the hell she was still doing alive and why she hadn't shown herself sooner.  
  
Inuyasha cracked his knuckles and began to walk down the hillside, but only made it half way down when Sango, Miroku, and Shippo stopped him.questions written clearly in their faces.  
  
"Inuyasha." Miroku beckoned the hanyou's attention. "We have a few questions we wanted to ask."  
  
"Make it quick houshi!" Inuyasha told him, trying to be as patient as possible with the little fuse that sent his anger flying in a matter of moments. Miroku cleared his throat and banged his staff on the ground as if to call for more attention.  
  
"Inuyasha." He began. "Who is this young lady and how do you know her?"  
  
Usual question.he should have known.  
  
How would he explain this little acquaintance?  
  
"She was my friend many years ago. A demon who understood what I was going through as a young boy and that took care of me." Inuyasha replied, hoping to get around them with that so he could ask Kojika his own little questions.  
  
"But then what happened. Why did you leave?" Sango asked.  
  
She knew nothing. She couldn't possibly know anything.  
  
"She died many years ago.in a battle." This was really starting to irritate him!  
  
"But she doesn't smell like a demon." Shippo told him matter-of-factly. But Inuyasha already knew that.it was one of the reasons he wanted to go and talk to her.his old mentor. So he tried to get around them, but they kept him still.each one trying to deliberately catch his attention so they could be answered.  
  
"Outta my way!" He finally shouted angrily, his temper fuse having finally shriveled up.  
  
He had to get over there.  
  
By now, Kojika had already finished talking with the people and walked towards him, that red dragon on her shoulder, and her hand petting it affectionately. It was apparently her pet or something like that.  
  
She had taken off her hood, displaying the long silky black hair he always knew her for, and her delicate chin rubbed against the dragons loving little nudges. Her brown eyes twinkled in the sun light that was the next morning from the fight of last night. Pretty brown eyes.she had always had them.but it made him wander what she looked like when she was in her true form.What color of eyes did she have then?  
  
"Kojika." He beckoned, finally coming up to her front, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo all in tow.  
  
"Inuyasha." She replied, bowing. She was shorter than he remembered, at least by five inches from his own head.but then again.he had grown up a little more since he last saw her. "It's been a while." She told him with a smile.that mischevious smile she always had that told him she knew everything that was going on in his head.  
  
She was probably reading his thoughts right now.that dragon power she had and used so often when they had been traveling together.  
  
She already knew what he was going to ask.  
  
"So you want to know what I'm doing alive. Fine.lets find a nice spot in the trees and I'll explain everything." She told him, turning and letting her dragon up off her shoulder.that dragon with it's hairs like fine little flame's that glowed from it's back. It flew up high above the ground.a piercing red dot in a light blue ocean-like sky.  
  
Then he flew off towards a cluster of trees in the forest, and Kojika strode in that direction leading everyone including a now curious Kagome towards the spot her dragon chose.  
  
It was a nice cluster of trees.thick and heavy with shade as she sat down under it.beckoning the others to do the same. They did, and her little red dragon again landed on her shoulder.chirping to her happily.  
  
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a little brown treat.which it ate quickly.  
  
"So.you want to know what I'm doing here aye?" She confirmed, turning to them with one final pat to her dragons head.  
  
"Well.it's simple. I was never dead in the first place. Perhaps I should start from the beginning. If I still know Inuyasha as well as I did and he hasn't changed too much, than I know he hasn't told you anything of how we met right?" Everyone nodded, including he.  
  
"Fine." And she explained how they met.  
  
Everyone seemed to listen very carefully to her words.and afterwards.they all understood Inuyasha's past.  
  
"So that was it eh?" Miroku said softly. "You were an outcast of the village you mother kept you at.and then we she died they tried to kill you interesting."  
  
"And that explains where the red hoari of fire rat fur and the sword wielding skills you have now came from." Came Sango.  
  
"And that attitude towards everyone." Said Shippo with a frown. Kagome was silent.probably thinking in her own little world.  
  
"But how did you survive the demon attack?" Miroku asked.being the first one to ask the question on everyone's minds. "Weren't you poisoned as well as bleeding?"  
  
"Yes. It's a rather funny story, and a long one, but we have time I presume?" Everyone nodded. "Good. You see.I was never really dead to begin with. Just unconscious from my loss of blood. I had never taught Inuyasha to decipher between the living and the dead at his age.so he suspected me for dead. And Inuyasha.I thank you a lot for burying me.it showed that I taught you that well. All though I now see you've dropped that custom. I will not hold you to it though. Anyways.I had been poisoned by the snake's venom.yes.but the tremendous bleeding of my body allowed the poison to leak out of my wounds and detoxify me. Then when Inuyasha buried me, the dirt helped clot up the wound and prevent more blood from being lost. Then my demon powers came into play and healed my wounds.creating more blood which took my body a while to do."  
  
"But I'm confused." Miroku said.resting his staff on his shoulder. "You said you were stabbed at least three times.and poisoned. How could you live long enough for the effects you just explained to take place?" Everyone nodded.the same question coming to their minds now.  
  
"Well.Miroku right?" He nodded. Kojika continued. "Three stabs and a little demon poisoning isn't enough to take down a full grown and aged Draymon.it just doesn't work like that."  
  
"So that's why not even Sesshomaru will fight you, eh?" Came Sango.her finger to her lips.  
  
"Precisely I suppose." Kojika replied.  
  
"But if you're a dragon demon, then how come you don't look or smell like one?" Shippo asked.  
  
"She doesn't smell like one?" Miroku asked. Inuyasha, Shippo, and Kirara all shook their heads.  
  
"Well.that's simple really. Draymon's gain more magic over the years.age brings wisdom.and wisdom brings more abilities. Since the fifty some years I last met Inuyasha.I have gained a few abilities. Before I met him.I looked like Sesshomaru.pointed ears.facial markings.even the silver eyes of my people.but I managed to learn to look almost completely human by the time I reached Inuyasha's village.and so I decided to try out this new ability. That's when I found him and saved him. Just he same as that.fifty years later.I have learned to mask my scent as anything I wish.I've also found a small knack for copying voices."  
  
"Oh really!" Shippo shouted. "Do mine!"  
  
"Okay." Kojika said with a smile.watching the little fox demon hop anxiously up and down. "How this?" Everyone became quiet. In Inuyasha's mind.she had sounded exactly like Shippo, even with his keen dog sensed ears. Had he heard her with that voice from behind, he probably would have whirled and punched her the way he did with the little fox.  
  
"How about mine?" Sango asked.  
  
Kojika copied her voice.  
  
"Wow!" Sango exclaimed.  
  
"I'd like to ask a favor?" Miroku replied.  
  
"Yes." Kojika answered.  
  
"Would you take my form and my voice for a while when I happen to disappear in one of the villages.men's stuff you know." As soon as he said that.Sango and Shippo busted out and hit him over the head. "Darn houshi!" They said as he rubbed the bump on his scalp.  
  
"Excuse him." Sango said with a polite nod.  
  
"He's excused." Kojika responded with a smile.  
  
"Something still confuses me." Kagome acknowledged. It had been a while since she last spoke.  
  
"Yes." Kojika urged.  
  
Kagome sat up at her tree, and hugged the jewel shards on the necklace at her throat.  
  
"That dragon of yours.the red one.it's not living." She said.  
  
Everyone watched the dragon with confused thoughts.  
  
It looked living.to the fox and hanyou it smelled living.but Kagome was right.there was something wrong with it.  
  
It didn't breath or blink or some much as cock it's head.  
  
"That's because it isn't living."  
  
"Eh?" Was everyone's mingled question.  
  
"It's an incarnation of me. I made it from my own flesh and blood, but I didn't not give it a soul of its own, instead it lives off mine. It can eat, drink, and even speak like a real dragon, but it cannot live or breathe."  
  
"An incarnation?!" Inuyasha half-near shouted.  
  
"Yes. What's wrong with that?" But he knew she could see it in his head.she could read his thoughts of course.and it had been years that he had last had to cover his mind from her picking in it. Now she was years older, more experienced, and he had used it in a long time.  
  
Naraku.  
  
"No. I am not like Naraku." Kojika clarified.  
  
So she knew who Naraku was.  
  
"But how." Shippo was going to ask, how she knew what Inuyasha was thinking, but Inuyasha interrupted him.  
  
"It's another technique. She can read minds."  
  
"Oh." Shippo went quiet after that.  
  
"What do you mean your not like Naraku? Can't he make incarnations of himself?"  
  
Kagome asked, sitting up to get a clearer listen.  
  
"Yes and no."  
  
"What do you mean?" Miroku requested.  
  
"Well.yes Naraku can make incarnations of himself.but he makes the largest mistakes when he does."  
  
"Like what?" Sango asked.  
  
"Well.for starters.he makes creatures the same size or larger than he is.which give him a disadvantage should they turn on him. And two.he uses other demon's souls, those he's captured in his own body, to animate these walking dummies of his."  
  
"Eh?" Everyone chorused.  
  
"Why does he have captured souls?" Shippo asked.  
  
"It's simple. I'm sure you all know that in the beginning, Naraku was Onigumo right?"  
  
Nods.  
  
"Good. Well, when Onigumo requested that his body be devoured and reshaped by the demons, they came together to make one body, and in turn.one place with multiple souls. He cannot merge souls, but he cannot get rid of them either.they are attached to his body. The only way he can find that he can be freed of them is by emitting them into the created bodies of those he makes, and they are free. He also thinks that by keeping their hearts he can keep control. But that's another flaw.he makes his followers far too powerful for himself.it doesn't matter that he has a heart from each.but should he make too many.and should they all decide to gang up on him.then he cannot destroy all the hearts at once.and even then.the souls will return to his body because they are attached to him and they will torment him there. He is cornering himself."  
  
"Then why don't you make one.?" Inuyasha asked.  
  
"It's simple.I make small creatures.ones that don't do the fighting for me.but show me where the battles are so I do not have to fight. I do not like to fight.but if I must I will.This dragon, Kazu is his name, cannot speak a true human language, cannot think for itself because it does not have it's own soul, and only lives to serve me. When it dies.it holds no regrets and in so doing.does not come back with an angry soul. I save myself the hassle of making large powerful warriors with their own minds, when one day they can kill me and take their own freedom and allegiance. I do not think that way.  
  
Besides.Kazu here has been living for forty years and has not once caused any trouble."  
  
Everything went silent.but one thing continued to bug Inuyasha. He couldn't get it out of his system, so he asked his question, knowing that Kojika already knew what he was going to ask.  
  
"How come I never came to see you even though I was alive.Simple Inuyasha.this you should know yourself.You were pinned to a tree in an eternal rest for fifty years.  
  
Sure I came to visit.spooked the hell out of the villagers.To them I was there and then I was gone. A couple actually called me the reincarnation of this priestess person that was living there at one point I do believe. Something like Kikyo." Inuyasha tensed... Kagome stared.Miroku, Sango, and Shippo bowed their heads.  
  
"What did I say?" She asked, but silently.she was already reading their minds. Kikyo was close to someone here.Someone who loved her as much as she had with him.  
  
Inuyasha.  
  
"I'm sorry." Kojika said, bowing her head once for apology. "I had no idea.much has happened in the years past."  
  
But Inuyasha wouldn't listen.he stood up and jumped up into the trees, leaving the group behind in his silent fury.  
  
"He really loved her I see.and Naraku ruined it for them.How sad for such a love to go wrong.But she is still alive, no?"  
  
"Sort of." Miroku answered. Now it was Kagome that stood up and stalked away.headed in the direction Inuyasha had run off too.  
  
"What's wrong with her?" Kojika asked, turning back to Miroku, Sango, and Shippo after watching Kagome leave.  
  
"Could you not read her mind?" Miroku asked.  
  
"No. I could not, strangely enough. No one has ever been able to close me off so effectively. And yet she doesn't know she did it." Kojika informed.  
  
"How is that possible?" Sango asked.  
  
"I'm not sure for once. But I think she has a lot of spiritual power with in her.dragon demons have always been eluded by such human strength for years. The strength of a miko has always been able to shut away our powers.but only the truly strong ones can do it without realizing it.She is powerful.the reincarnation of the one Inuyasha loves yes?"  
  
They nodded.instead of reading Kagome's thoughts, Kojika had read there's.  
  
"Ah, but there is something else there between those two. Inuyasha is confused.yes.very confused." She shook her head. "Best leave them be for a while.  
  
They need to talk things out between them.both have feelings and emotions for the other that they feel they cannot give because of their own little set backs. Once they've talked.things should be fine."  
  
*There you go! Other chapters soon to come! My inspirations coming back in bursts!* 


	13. A Talk Between Friends

Chapter 13  
  
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Inuyasha or any body else in the show! Love to though!  
  
*Another chapter and I'm still going strong.*  
  
Kikyo.  
  
Gone.  
  
And Naraku.  
  
He did it.he'll pay.  
  
He'll pay for having him alone again.  
  
Alone once more.  
  
He landed in a tree.a tall sturdy one with rotting bark.and sat.red hoari rubbing against the rough wood.  
  
Kikyo.  
  
Where was the miko that was now the living dead.?  
  
Was she watching him this very moment.?  
  
Inuyasha sighed.  
  
Fifty some years since he had last seen Kojika.his mentor.his master.the one woman who seemed to him like his mother when he had none.Kojika.  
  
And yet.she was back.and he felt completely confused.  
  
Kojika was back.she could continue teaching him what she couldn't before the battle of the demons.when she supposedly died.  
  
But this Kojika.she didn't seem normal.  
  
She was almost different somehow.as if she had changed.perhaps these years had given her a new sense of wisdom.something new she now understood from her years of life.  
  
But what?  
  
"Inuyasha!" He heard the familiar voice shout.making his ears perk up to listen more clearly.  
  
"What do you want Kagome!?" He yelled back.glancing down to see her walking up to the tree.her bow over her shoulder and her quiver on her back.  
  
"I came to check on you." She replied.setting her weapons down to climb up the tree.  
  
"I don't need to be checked on.you should know that." He replied, crossing his arms as he watched her struggled up the tree, her strange box like shoes not allowing much grip.  
  
He finally gave up and reached down to her.pulling her up once she got hold and setting her down on the branch before him, making sure she didn't fall.  
  
"I know you don't need to be checked on in your idea Inuyasha." Kagome told him, brushing pieces of bark off of her skirt. "But I meant your feelings."  
  
"What? You gonna council me now or somethin'?" Inuyasha said.giving her a simple glare. Kagome brushed the disturbing look away with a smile. Inuyasha was playing tough again.  
  
"No. Kojika can do that. I only wanted to ask.how close were you to her?" It had started bugging her during the conversation with Kojika, how she was talking about when she met Inuyasha and such, but Kojika hadn't been very specific. She could tell that the dragon demon was leaving things out. Inuyasha sighed.  
  
He could now get things off of his chest.and reveal to Kagome the whole entire reason he acted the way he did most of the time.  
  
"When I met Kojika, I thought she was a passing villager.simply watching what was happening to me when the villagers decided to kill me." He said. Kagome nodded, having heard the part about how Kojika first saw him. "Well.she scared the villagers off of me, and I realized then by her smell that she wasn't a normal person, but I couldn't really define then what she was.I hadn't met many demons then. But then she asked me where my mother was.and when I told her, she got me and my dead mother out of the village, and then she buried my mother under her favorite type of tree. I wondered how she knew what she did, but after a while, I came to figure that she could read minds, and she even confirmed it. I didn't talk much the first few weeks, but every time I ran away mad, she let me sort things out on my own, and then would always just pop out right where I came out of the forest, with a fire and some fish cooking over it. She taught me almost everything I know these days, and then.when I hated humans, she encouraged me to like them.to stop hating them because they were all different. Kojika was always like that.There was even one time that Sesshomaru tried to kill me when I was away.around the time that I had first met him and got to understand that he was my brother. He had threatened to kill me.but I guess he didn't know Kojika was around me."  
  
"That's what Kojika left out." Kagome whispered. "She never said that Sesshomaru attacked you while you were with her.  
  
"Well yeah, but it wasn't a real big thing for the story to her I guess. Actually.the had told her that I wanted to become a full demon, and when she tried to ask me why, I ran away angry. Around that time I knew how to block her from my mind, so she couldn't get anything out of me. But around the time that Sesshomaru attacked, she was there.and she saved me."  
  
"What happened when Sesshomaru attacked?" Kagome asked.  
  
"Well.I had been sitting up in the tree.doing nothing really but thinking to myself.getting ready to find Kojika again, when my brother appeared and said he would kill me. I fought him.but because I was so young, and unarmed.he had me pinned to the tree.and let his frog servant Jaken burn me with his staff." Kagome nodded.shocked a little at the saddening truth. Sesshomaru had never tried to even so much as care for Inuyasha's welfare or his health. He just wanted him dead.perhaps because he knew that Inuyasha was supposed to get the tetsusaiga from his father.  
  
"So what happened." She inquired.now completely interested in Inuyasha's tale.  
  
"He nearly killed me.that's what happened. I thought for sure I was going to die.and then Kojika appeared.and scared him away."  
  
"Kojika scared Sesshomaru away!" Kagome shouted.and in her surprise she lost grip on the branch and slipped.nearly falling if it weren't for Inuyasha grabbing hold of her hand.  
  
"I've got you.just hold still." He shouted.pulling her up slowly with his one hand.and then fully pulling her back up onto the branch with the other.  
  
"Thanks." Kagome whispered.huffing from her fright.  
  
"You should watch where you're falling!" Inuyasha shouted. Kagome smiled.  
  
"What!" He shouted. She never frowned.  
  
"I still can't help but think of Sesshomaru being scared." She said, chuckling.  
  
Inuyasha stared at her for a moment.before also breaking into his own chuckle. Before long.they were laughing uncontrollably, but this time.Inuyasha was watching Kagome to assure she didn't fall.  
  
But their laughter was cut short.  
  
A rustle to the right brought them both out of it.  
  
Inuyasha could smell it.  
  
Kagome could sense it.  
  
Demon.  
  
It climbed out of the heavy down cast of trees.  
  
Fangs clicking hungrily.many eyes watching them from different angles.eight legs smashing the other trees and fallen logs in it's path.  
  
A giant spider youkai.  
  
"Great." Inuyasha whispered, flexing his claws. "He smells the jewel."  
  
Kagome glanced down at her bow and arrows.wishing she hadn't left them down there.  
  
"Kagome." Inuyasha requested.  
  
"Yes." Kagome replied back.  
  
"I'm going to put you on the ground.but I need you to get far away from this area.alright!" Inuyasha didn't even turn to her when he inquired this. His glare was set on the giant spider.  
  
"Are you kidding.and leave you here alone.no way!" She replied.jumping down to the ground on her own. Inuyasha turned to see her fall.  
  
"Kagome!" He shouted.the spider was attacking.  
  
I shot out a huge amount of webbing.aimed at Kagome.  
  
But Inuyasha wasn't about to let it have it's way.  
  
That wasn't going to happen.  
  
He jumped in the way of the web.flinging out the tetsusaiga to try and cut it.but the white strings hit him and slapped him against the wall.trapping him.  
  
"No!" He shouted.struggling. This couldn't happen! Kagome was defenseless!  
  
But he thought to low of a miko that was reincarnated from a priestess that lived to kill demons.  
  
He underestimated Kagome.  
  
By now, she already had her bow up with an arrow slung in it, her quiver on her back.  
  
"Die!" She shouted.flinging her arrow right into the skull of the spider.  
  
It shook it's head.hitting trees in it's attempt to knock the arrow from between it's many eyes.but failing miserably.  
  
"Kagome! Get out of here!" Inuyasha shouted.  
  
"Inuyasha! I already told you! I'm not leaving you alone with this thing!" she shouted back.  
  
"Stupid girl!" He struggled some more.  
  
But the spider wasn't about to let him out of the web.or let him protect Kagome.  
  
Unfortenately.web wasn't what he planned to trap Kagome with.  
  
The spider stepped forward.not even noticing the arrow imbedded in it's head anymore.and raised one talent of it's eight high in the air.  
  
By now.Kagome had begun to restring her bow with another arrow.but she wasn't able to aim in time.the claw came down.ready to hit.but never struck.  
  
In a matter of one moment.Kagome was there.and she wasn't.  
  
Vanished.just like that!  
  
Inuyasha was surprised.how had the miko disappeared just like that.how could she.  
  
Or was it.wait.  
  
The spider was beginning to spit blood.it was choking on something.  
  
There was a sword stuck between it's head and abdomen.slicing all the way through to the bottom.holding the spider in place.and there was blood gushing from under the abdomen.another sword imbedded there.blood just pouring out like a water fall.  
  
But who.who had.Of course!  
  
He could sense Kagome right above him.could even hear her soft gasps of breath as she tried to calm down.  
  
Inuyasha strained to look up.to see her.and finally.he was able to catch a glimpse of her.  
  
She was sitting in the high up branches of the tree.her hand at her neck.holding the shikon shards on their chain close to her heart.and her gasps were beginning to decrease.  
  
But she wasn't staring at him.nope.she was looking at what was before him.surprise written in her eyes.and so.in confusion and curiosity.Inuyasha turned to look at the person before him.  
  
Kojika.  
  
She was smiling.her black hair beginning to fall into her eyes.freed from their hold from her fast running.  
  
"I can't leave you alone can I?" She asked.stretching her long sharp talons and cutting the fine sticky silk threads into shreds.  
  
"Thanks." Inuyasha mumbled.just as the webbing finally let him go and he was able to jump up into the tree and bring Kagome to the ground.  
  
By this time.Sango, Miroku, and Shippo had finally caught up, slowing down at the scene.relieved that everyone was alright.  
  
"What happened?" Sango asked.letting her boomerang from her shoulder.  
  
"We were attacked by a giant spider youkai." Kagome answered.brushing sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.  
  
"Well.glad to see you safe." Miroku responded.relaxing his staff from it's ready fighting position. "We didn't know that anything was happening until Kojika said something was wrong and jumped off faster than we had ever seen anyone go. She even led us here, leaving Kazu to show the path."  
  
As if on cue, the little red dragon sprang up from behind them and jumped on Kojika's shoulder.chirping and licking her face affectionately.  
  
In turn, Kojika patted it on the head and gave it a treat.  
  
"There you go. Good work Kazu." She said.receiving another chirp.  
  
"You knew the spider attacked us.didn't you?" Inuyasha inquired, balling up his fists.  
  
"Yes.I did Inuyasha.but I at first thought that it was nothing to fear. Until I sensed what was within this spider.then I became slightly worried." Kojika replied, resting her hand at her side once more.  
  
"What do you mean?" Miroku asked.as Shippo jumped up into Kagome's arms.hugging her.  
  
"Kagome.can't you see them?" Kojika thwarted Miroku's question. Kagome glanced at Kojika once, before turning back towards the spider.She instantly noticed what Kojika was talking about.  
  
"It has three shards of the jewel." She replied.  
  
"What?!" They were stunned.how was it possible, that the Dragon Demon before them was able to find shards of the jewel before their very own Shard Detector could? How was that possible?  
  
Of course, Kagome was the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo, so it was understood where her powers originated from.but what of Kojika.how had she such powers.  
  
"How.how did you know?" Sango asked, brows knitted in confusion.  
  
"I wish not to explain." Kojika answered simply, as she let Kazu free to wander near the spider, digging into it's flesh to pull out the three shards and drop them, all clean, into her hand.  
  
"Here Kagome. These are in your care."  
  
"Wouldn't you have use for them?" Shippo asked, curiously.  
  
"No.Shippo. I have no need.nor have I ever for such a vile object as to be made from the hearts and minds that over power the priestess whom's heart it was made from."  
  
Kazu jumped on Kojika's shoulder once more.and chirped.wrapping around her neck and nuzzling off to sleep.  
  
Everyone was silent.for only a moment.  
  
"Well.we better get going." Kagome implied, turning around and heading back towards the camp.  
  
"Why are you so eager?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously. He had an idea of what Kagome was getting at.  
  
"I need to get home soon.I told mom and grandpa I'd be home by this Sunday, and besides.I have to study for my next Exam which is in three days. Come on! Let's go!"  
  
She said marching away.  
  
"Best follow." Sango replied, joining Kagome in her walk towards the temporary camp, followed soon by Miroku, Kojika, and Inuyasha.  
  
Things.were beginning to get odd.  
  
*There's another chapter! Still going strong.I plan on making this story as good as I can possibly think up.so work with me! Give ideas on what you think may happen.and as you read.you might find your ideas added.* 


	14. A Wolf's Appearance

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. .but some day I might.  
  
*I am so extremely sorry I took so long to update.but my computer seriously decided to be temperamental. Evil computer! Anyways.I didn't get stingy. I wrote a total of three or four some chapters for my readers to enjoy. I also want to thank all of those who were patient with me and waited for me to update my chapters for you. Thank you!*  
  
Chapter 14  
  
The travel was long, the day hot and humid.The crew marched in silence, except for Shippo's giggles as he chased Kazu and then ran as he was chased back. Sango did begin to converse with Kojika a little later, about what kind of people Kojika used to live around and what weaponry and other demon's there were around them.such and such.etc.  
  
Inuyasha on the other hand.was not so at ease with this little walk to the well. Many things hung from his mind.working him into to thinking them over to relieve the stress.  
  
He was beginning to wonder why Kojika was able to sense the shards from that much of a distance, and how was it possible that she moved so fast she made even Sesshomaru look like a slow runner. She was a little smaller than both he and his brother of course.but her clothing was similar to Sesshomaru.fancy and large.hanging well over her arms and legs.well fighting clothing for ample movement.and the fact that she wore the black pants with the slippers and a now black over shirt, with buttons over the front instead of the usual open robe closed by a clothe or silk belt. She still had that long hair in the occasional black braid, reaching to her heals, and the sparkling brown eyes she so much liked to tease one with. She didn't look any different.and yet with all that heavy clothing.she moved faster than most demon's were ample. Was she really as old as she claimed.or older? And before.when he was younger, he remembered her mentioning something about being an outcast to her people. Why?  
  
"I was out cast from my home, because I told another being about our home. We Draymons aren't supposed to let out the fact of our existence with anything else unless it is the one we plan to bring back to marry. But I told another demon, one with evil intentions, and I was forced to leave after he had nearly tried to destroy the island. I can never return."  
  
He was beginning to wonder something. She had told him about her home.not exact locations but the way they lived and dressed and the daily routine. Why was that so bad?  
  
What if she was lying about something.? What if.she wasn't out cast because she had told another.? Perhaps it was something else.like in her line?  
  
"Inuyasha." It was Miroku.  
  
"What monk?" He replied dryly, agitated at being called from his thoughts.  
  
"There's a demon nearby, and it's not traveling with us." He whispered, pointing with his eyes towards the path they were taking. Kagome was the closest to what ever demon it was.  
  
"Kagome!" He shouted. She stopped and turned.watching his eyes and face curiously.the bushes before her were beginning to shiver. "Get out of the way!"  
  
But it was too late.the demon in question jumped out of the bushes and pounced before the group.smiling devilishly as it clasped Kagome's hands.  
  
"Oh no." Inuyasha whispered.smacking his palm to his forehead.  
  
Kouga.  
  
"Kagome! I've come to take you home with me!" The wolf youkai announced, happily squeezing the girls hands.  
  
From Kojika's point of view, he was a young, annoying, lord of a wolf pack.that had a lot to learn about the best way of capturing a young ladies heart.  
  
He wore a wolf fur skirt, casual to those from the tribes, with his tail curled around his hip and armor over his broad chest. He of course wore the armor of fur shoulder cups, an arm wrap larger than the other on one side, and the leg raps ample for excellent protection. His hair was back in a pony tail, to prevent the hair from hanging in his eyes during combat, and a wrap around his forehead, prevented the bangs from clawing at his vision.  
  
"You!" Shouted Inuyasha, running at Kouga and thrusting the wolf youkai away from Kagome.  
  
"What the hell are you doing mutt!?" Shouted Kouga.  
  
"Kicking you out of our way!" Shouted back the aggravated Inuyasha.  
  
"Why you!?" That was all it took.the battle broke out.  
  
Kouga kicked Inuyasha square in the chest, to be returned by a whopper of a punch dealt back by Inuyasha, and another smack from Kouga, returned by a claw swipe from Inuyasha.  
  
These two would kill each other if someone didn't step in!  
  
From everyone's faces, Kojika concluded that this happened often.Kagome was sitting on the side, hands at her chest watching the two battle it out, Shippo was jumping up and down, cheering both sides on, and Sango and Miroku were beginning to bet on who would stop the battle this time and how far it would continue.  
  
Kojika figured.that she would have to separate the two children before they caused damage.Both must have really had a thing for Kagome!  
  
So Kojika sighed and stepped up to the duo.grabbing both by the back of their necks fearlessly, and being the dog related demon's they were, they paralyzed at the pinching of the exact spot on their upper spin.  
  
"What the hell!?" Shouted Inuyasha.  
  
"Who the hell are you!?" Yelled Kouga.  
  
"Boys.boys.as much entertaining as it is to see the two of you fight.lets not get each other killed.yes?" She replied.dropping them a short distance away from each other.assuring that she remained in the middle to keep these high spirited youths from dueling it out.  
  
"Why you.?!" Kouga was mumbling.getting up with his fists raised and ready to land punches. "How dare you human.grab me when I'm fighting for the woman I love!"  
  
Kojika smiled. "Well.I already got the part of fighting over the love thing. That you didn't need to inform me on.but I don't believe I'm about to let you cause any trouble for this little group. You see.we're trying to get Kagome home.and it would do us greatly if you just stepped out of the way and let us pass. K.thank you." and she stepped away from him politely, taking Kagome's hand and looking it over for any scratches the over exuberant youkai might have left.  
  
"Any scratches?" She asked, looking over the palm.  
  
"No.not that I know of." Kagome replied back, feeling awkward at the fact that Kojika was actually checking on something that she didn't need to.  
  
"Come back here you human! Do you know who you're talking to!?" Kouga rambled.  
  
"Yes.I'm talking to Kagome, if you don't mind." Kojika returned, smiling.  
  
Kouga stared at her a moment, taking that moment to recollect what she had just said, until he finally understood what it was.  
  
"I mean do you know who I am!" He began.  
  
"I see a mess of a wolf demon who has no idea how to be nice and gentlemanly and is so much a coward that he would try to take the woman of a another because he can't find one of his own." Kojika replied, finally letting Kagome's hand free and stepping up into Kouga's face.smiling just once before walking on ahead down the trail.  
  
"What the.?" He was getting at that again.  
  
"Good day Kouga." Kojika shouted back.patting her dragon and leading Sango, Kagome, Inuyasha, and Shippo away. Miroku patted Kouga on the shoulder.  
  
"I know what you mean. She does look human.but she isn't."  
  
"What do you mean monk?" Kouga replied. Miroku sighed.this wolf and Inuyasha weren't that much different.  
  
" She's a Dragon wolf." Miroku had decided to call him what he was like he had with the word "monk".  
  
"A Dragon. That's impossible.those people don't exist anymore!" Kouga answered.  
  
"Well.apparently.this one does."  
  
*Here you go. Give me reviews! I have two more chapters after this!* 


	15. To Return Home

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but some day I might.maybe.in my dreams right? I thought so.  
  
*Here's the next chapter. The extra character in here was requested by a teacher of mine from school. His daughter is a big fan of Inuyasha, just like I am.so he requested that she be brought in the story as a small character for a few chapters.get her to meet the characters and stuff.Hope the readers enjoy!*  
  
Chapter 15  
  
The travel to the well in Inuyasha's forest was now complete. Kagome had finally said all of her goodbye's for a while, and jumped in.leaving only a wisp of magical blue light behind. Kouga, during this process freaked out.and began clawing at the well side, as Inuyasha, Kojika, and Miroku fought to keep him sitting. He thought that Kagome was at the bottom, perhaps with a broken arm or such.but they assured him, no matter how many times he jumped into the well and scratched around, they wouldn't find her until she happened to decide to climb back out, or Inuyasha went to find her.  
  
The group decided that since Kagome was to be away, they might as well go into Kaede's village and stay there until she returned. Kouga refused to leave the well however, insisting that if he tried hard enough, Kagome would return. He and Inuyasha nearly got in an argument over who really cared for Kagome, but just as before, Kojika stepped in the way and dragged Inuyasha away, keeping a battle where humans could possibly get hurt, for another day.  
  
Kojika met Kaede a moment later, as Inuyasha stalked off to sulk for not getting his way, and she and the elderly old woman got along just fine.  
  
Kaede seemed to take great interest in Kojika's life over the last century or so.and many of the memories came fresh to Kaede's mind. Shippo ran out to play with Kirara, Sango and Miroku talked quietly near the fire, figuring out the next best locations to go looking for shards were, and how many there were most likely left to get before Naraku did, and what was to be done until Kagome returned.  
  
After a while of talking with Kaede however, Kojika got the sense that she was wanted in Inuyasha's presence, and smiling politely, she excused herself from the wise woman's hut.  
  
Outside, only taking a few wide strides, she found Inuyasha up in a tree.  
  
"Will you walk with me Inuyasha. There are many things to discuss amongst us while there is no one to disturb our conversation." Kojika inquired, staring up at the agitated Hanyou.  
  
"Yeah.sure." He replied dryly, jumping down softly on the green dew tipped grass.  
  
Both walked out into the deepness of the woods.  
  
Kagome climbed out of the well, huffing as she lugged her backpack over the lip and walked out into the bright sun of her era. She spotted Souta immediately.talking to Grandpa Higurashi as he swept up the dirt on the concrete outside their home.  
  
"Hi Grandpa! Hi Souta!" She shouted, running up to hug them. Souta immediately broke into demanding an explanation of what happened in the feudal era, and Grandpa Higurashi simply gave her a few wards for the next time she went down the well to ward off demons. She threw them in the waste basket as she stepped inside the house.  
  
"Hey Mom! I'm home!" She called.  
  
Her mother, Miss Higurashi stepped up, holding a basket of laundry due to be hung on the line outside.  
  
"Oh Kagome. Glad your home. How was you trip?" She asked.  
  
"Fine." Kagome nodded. As her mother went to step around her to go outside, Kagome happened to notice a light blue back pack on the counter, with a chibi bunny on the front.  
  
"Mom.is there someone here for Souta or something?" She asked, as Miss Higurashi opened the screen door.  
  
"Oh.I almost forgot. Your cousin Jole, from America.she came for a visit. Arrived just yesterday if I remember right. She's upstairs in the guest room. You might want to say hello to her as you go to your room to unpack." And her mother was outside.  
  
"Jole." Kagome whispered to herself, grabbing a green apple from the bowl on the kitchen table and taking a bite. "I haven't seen her in years. I wonder how she's been doing?" Kagome only remembered a little baby about a year or so of age, laughing as she dangled a little replica of the Shikon no Tama before her. "A long time."  
  
Once up the stairs, she heard the door to the guest room open and a young girl step out.  
  
She had long fine dark brown hair, held back in a pony tail, and inquisitive brown eyes, staring up at her.  
  
She had to be about eleven or twelve by now, wearing a T-shirt with Chibi- fied anime characters from a show she think she had spotted on television a couple of times.and jeans the darkest shade of faded blue.  
  
"Hi Kagome!" She announced, smiling and hugging her older cousin. "You came back from Feudal Japan right?"  
  
Uh oh, Souta had been telling his stories again.  
  
"Yes Jole. I am. Did Souta tell you that?"  
  
Jole nodded. It was just as Kagome thought. One of these days she was going to have to have a talk with her over exuberant little brother.  
  
"Does Inuyasha really save you from demons all the time?" She asked, following Kagome to her room.  
  
"Yes." Kagome replied, opening the door and flopping her back pack on the bed.  
  
"Whoa. I like your room." Jole commented, rubbing the counter.  
  
"You haven't been in it yet?" returned Kagome.  
  
"No. Aunt Higurashi wouldn't let me in here. She said I could only come in if you let me."  
  
Thanks mom! Kagome thought in her mind. She didn't want anyone in while she was gone. Privacy thing.  
  
Jole happened to notice a picture on the table. a group picture of everyone in the Feudal era.  
  
"Wow! Are these all your friends?" She asked, taking the frame the picture was in and staring at it.  
  
Kagome remembered the day she had taken that picture. It had been right after her birthday, and her mother had given her a brand new camera, which now sat on the highest shelf of her cupboard. She had gone to the feudal era, and promising Inuyasha and the rest after they saw her flash a picture of Shippo, that the light wouldn't hurt them at all. Inuyasha was hard to persuade, but she had managed to some how.  
  
They had all lined up, taking any sort of position they liked, and Kagome had snapped the picture on a timer of one minute, joining in next to Inuyasha just in time.  
  
"Who's that?" Jole asked, pointing at the hanyou in the red hoari.  
  
"That's Inuyasha." She replied.  
  
"Wow! He looks tough." She said.  
  
"I'm sure he does. In both movement and talk. But underneath he's really quite nice."  
  
"And who's that?" She was pointing at the little fox.  
  
"Shippo."  
  
"And him."  
  
"Miroku." Soon, every picture she pointed to, Kagome answered.  
  
"Sango.Kirara.Kaede.."  
  
"Wow! Your friends look so cool!" Jole announced.  
  
"Wait until you see the other." Kagome smiled, reaching into the desk drawer where she kept what she called the "loose" picture. The picture Jole had been looking at.was one she had insisted everyone simply stand still.  
  
This one.she allowed everyone to make any kind of silly looks or what nots they wanted to do.  
  
This, was the funnier picture of the several she had taken.  
  
It was taken right before the bone eaters well.Shippo was sitting on the head of a grown up Kirara, Kaede was winking, Sango had her boomerang out over her head and Miroku was sitting on the ground, favoring a hand mark on his cheek, Inuyasha was growling, and she Kagome, was tugging on his ears, smiling.  
  
What a funny picture it had been.she'd laughed for almost an hour after it was developed and given back to her by the photo developers.  
  
Jole thought it was funny too. She laughed heartily at everything. When she had calmed down a bit, she began asking questions.  
  
"How'd that cat grow so big?" she pointed to Kirara, and Kagome gave an explanation of Kirara's demon blood.  
  
"And why does Miroku have a slap mark on his face." Then Kagome had explain that the houshi was a hentai.  
  
Jole didn't quite understand the terms the first time, but after a little explanation, she began to realize what Kagome meant.  
  
Then Jole asked for Kagome to tell her a few stories of life in Feudal Japan, and after about an hour of explaining, Kagome finally ushered the excited little cousin out of her room so she could catch up on homework.  
  
There was a stack large enough to be a threat to Shippo were it a demon.  
  
Kagome sighed, and sat down, pulling out a sharpened pencil and pulling down the first sheet of homework and test, and the book corresponding it.  
  
*There you go. Did you like it? Please people.send me reviews on what you think. I already have this entire story line planned in my head and I've made what I consider an excellent ending to it. Review my work!* 


	16. A Walk with a Dragon

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but man wouldn't I love too! What a dream that would be!  
  
*Here's the most recent chapter to the story so far.the next one I've planned up is supposed to be good, so tell me what you think of this one for now. The next one is going to make this story even more mysterious than it already is!*  
  
Chapter 16  
  
"So.you say you met Kikyo when you were trying to attack the village." Kojika repeated, sounding out Kikyo's name under her breath.  
  
"Yeah." Inuyasha replied, whipping some tall grass out of his way with a stick he had found a while back. It served well its purpose of knocking away the grubby weeds from their pant bottoms.  
  
"And at the moment she should be dead.but a demon Urusawae returned her to life using clay and ash from her grave?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Urusawae.I heard of her some years back. She was a vile user of black magic.and dangerous maiden if given the right ashes for her magic. I'm glad she's dead." Kojika replied.  
  
"I agree. Unfortenately, had she been taken care of sooner, Kikyo wouldn't be fated to walk to earth searching to kill me."  
  
"Very true." Kojika answered, plucking two apples from an apple tree fresh in bloom.  
  
She handed one to Inuyasha before taking a bite. He looked it over in his hands, instinctively suspicious, and then took his bite of the luscious red apple.  
  
"So you say.as well.that Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation?"  
  
Inuyasha nodded, mouth full of apple. "This isn't good. Reincarnation and original are not meant to meet each other's eyes. Danger can only come from it. You must keep  
  
Kagome from getting to close to Kikyo. For the fact that Kikyo hates you so.and Kagome does not.and that they share the same soul.Kikyo may be able to convince her into hating as much as she does.and two miko's are far to powerful for one such as yourself to hold off."  
  
"What do you mean at the fact that they have the same souls? They're both too different." Inuyasha inquired, taking another bite of his apple.  
  
Kojika stared at the one in her hand, thinking a moment.  
  
"What I mean Inuyasha, is that Kikyo has been dead for a grand total of fifty years.but she died with regrets and hatred. But now that she has been revived, and carries a piece of Kagome's soul in her.she can easily find a way to turn the rest of the soul that was once hers back into what she was. She can make Kagome feel the same way she does.for that bond between them.and then you will not only have the woman you once loved.but the one you love now fighting you."  
  
Inuyasha spat out the apple in his mouth when Kojika told him "the one you love now".  
  
"I don't love Kagome!" He shouted once he recovered from his short shock.  
  
"Well then.you show it very well." Kojika mocked, taking a bite of her apple and pushing some reaching branches from her face of a nearby tree.  
  
"I don't love Kagome!" He repeated. "I only protect her because she's our shard detector! That's it!"  
  
Kojika stopped to stare at Inuyasha. She had a twinkle in her eye and a modest smile. She was up to something.  
  
Inuyasha realized it too late. She was scavenging his mind.looking for his true feelings, and she found them before he could cover them up with other thoughts.  
  
"You do love her Inuyasha. And at times you wish to get to know her better.but you find it difficult to do so. You knew that people seeing you talking kindly to her would start getting ideas and demons would think you soft. In order to keep strong you keep her away from your heart.but not your mind."  
  
"Yeah so." Inuyasha mumbled, staring at his red apple with fury. He knew she was right.and she was the only real person that could confirm it too.  
  
Kojika suddenly stopped, causing Inuyasha to turn around to look back at her, quizzically.  
  
She was frowning softly, but there was amusement in her eyes.  
  
"Inuyasha. Love is no weakness. Even you have noticed the power of strength in your arms and confidence when you find she is in trouble. When she isn't there to give you strength, you don't fight at maximum. Love is the greatest strength in the world. Take it from an ancient Draymon who has seen many great loves die in an attempt to meet others expectations. I have seen destruction.love turn to hate.desire turn to devestation.I hate having to see it happen to you. Love.is a very thin and fine path Inuyasha. To step off of it is sure courage.and too many steps away and you may never find that path again. Be careful where you step." Kojika smiled.and continued walking.leaving a hazy Inuyasha behind to think of the riddle she had just played for him. A fine path.two many steps and you lose it.he had done that with Kikyo.and now he would never find that path again. Perhaps he kept thinking.that the further he walked on Kagome's path.the closer to Kikyo's he would get.but he realized now.that that was sure not to ever happen.Kikyo's path was thinner than Kagome's.and it was gone from him now.  
  
But thinking of such things.how did Kojika come upon such wisdom to tell him this.Had she experienced such a loss before in her life.?  
  
Inuyasha shook his head as he trotted to catch up with his old mentor as they came to a large pond. They were quiet for a moment, until Inuyasha witnessed Kojika's head snap to the path they had just taken.  
  
She never moved so fast unless there was something wrong.something terrible coming to attack.  
  
"What's wrong?" Inuyasha asked, tossing his apple from his hands at the same time Kojika did.  
  
"Trouble."  
  
"By everyone!" Kagome announced, picking up her backpack. She was going back far earlier than she thought.finding that the work she was given was only review for the last test's of the ninth grade. She had finished everything in one afternoon, and now it was nearly night time and she was heading back.  
  
She was down the well.loaded yellow pack on over her shoulder and the bright blue light had enveloped her just as her little cousin Jole came running out.a small vile of Shikon shards in her hand.  
  
"Kagome! Wait! You forgot these!" But Kagome was gone. "I have to get these to Kagome soon or she might get in trouble." Jole whispered to herself as Souta, Miss Higurashi, and Grandpa Higurashi left the yard to a warm home.  
  
Jole sighed.ran to the well.and leapt in.squinting her eyes as the bright blue vortex pulled her in and landed her softly on the soil of the well in Feudal Japan.  
  
*What do you think? Review me on what you like and dislike.* 


	17. Another Battle to Fight

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and co. but someday I might!  
  
*Sorry it took this while to update, but I had a lot of things to get done for school lately. I've found little bits of time though to complete this chapter. So far, it is the longest chapter for this story I have ever written!*  
  
Chapter 17  
  
"Hey guys!" Kagome shouted over the hill top over looking the village, waving furiously. Kaede looked up from her garden and smiled.Shippo ran up immediately and jumped into Kagome's arms.and Sango and Miroku came walking out.and little visitor sitting on Sango's shoulder.  
  
"Nice to see you returned my lady." Myoga bowed shortly, staring up at the young miko.  
  
"I see you finally decided to return." Kagome replied sarcastically, after hugging the little fox in her arms. "How's everything been?" She asked allowing Shippo to climb up on her shoulder and take his favorite seat next to her ear.  
  
"Fine.fine." Replied Kaede, clambering slowly up the hill. "How have ye been Kagome?"  
  
"Fine."  
  
"You're back earlier than you expected. Did things go well for you?" Asked Miroku, holding his golden rod as usual in his hand.straight towards the sky.  
  
"Yes.they did. I finished everything I needed to finish a lot sooner than I thought I would." Kagome smiled. Then she realized that the usually agitated hanyou hadn't been there to argue with her like he usually did about her leaving.  
  
"Where's Inuyasha?" She asked.glancing around.  
  
"He left a little while ago." Sango replied. "With Kojika I think. She said she had things she wanted to talk about."  
  
"Oh." Kagome whispered, staring at the ground. Hopefully there wasn't anything too close and special about the hanyou and his mentor.she couldn't bare two rivals for the same man.  
  
"Kagome!" Came a voice from behind. Instinctively, Sango latched the boomerang on her back, ready to attack, and Miroku pulled out his staff, standing in front of Kaede.  
  
Kagome spun, recognizing the person running up the side of the hill.waving her hand in a wide arc over her head. "Kagome!" She shouted once more.  
  
Sango and Miroku lowered their weapons, staring at the young girl running towards them.  
  
They were surprised that she didn't wear a kimono like everyone else in the village.  
  
"Jole!" Shouted Kagome, closing the distance between her and the little girl. Jole was huffing heavily. Kagome noticed instantly that there was something wrong.  
  
"Jole.what's wrong? What happened?" She asked.but her answer came blazing in a whirl wind towards them, spinning faster than a tornado could.  
  
"That was chasing me!" Shouted Jole.  
  
"Get behind me!" Kagome told her, taking her most powerful and overpowering stance.  
  
She already knew who it was that had scared Jole so.  
  
"Kouga!" She shouted. The whirl wind came to about five feet away.before stopping.producing the wolf youkai.  
  
"Kagome!" He jumped with glee.running up to grab her hands happily. "You're back! I thought the well had eaten you!" Kagome smiled.trying to push the wolf's affections away without hurting his feelings.  
  
"Kouga.why did you chase her?" Kagome asked, becoming stern once more.  
  
"Chase who?" He inquired.  
  
Kagome stepped out of the way only a little, making sure there was a barrier between the eager wolf and the petrified little girl.  
  
"Oh her." Kouga mumbled. "She got in my way when I was coming to find you. I didn't realize she was in front of me." He replied.  
  
"Then apologize." She returned.  
  
"Do I have to?" Kouga asked, beginning to growl.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Just say you're sorry Kouga."  
  
"No."  
  
"Fine. Goodbye Kouga." She'd learned to black mail the wolf into doing things for her by now. He wouldn't go away.and he wouldn't give up.so she had no other alternative.  
  
"Sorry." Kouga mumbled.looking away.  
  
"Thankyou." Kagome nodded. Then she turned to her cousin, who had by now.stopped shivering. "Jole, this is Kouga. He's a friend of mine here. Say hi." Jole came out around Kagome and stuck out her hand, first shy, then fearless. The wolf stared at it a moment, before taking it and shaking. "Kouga.this is my cousin Jole. Now maybe you'll stop scaring her witts away. By the way." She turned back to Jole. "Why did you follow me?"  
  
Jole held up her hand.holding the thin vile of shikon shards.  
  
"You left them behind. I came to bring them back." She said.  
  
Kagome smiled. "I meant to leave them behind Jole. It keeps demon's away from them most times." Remembering the Noh mask.she shivered.  
  
"Sorry." Jole replied.and just as Kagome was beginning to feel the tiniest bit sorry for not telling her.her cousin broke from her shyness and immediately started introducing herself to Kaede, Miroku, Shippo, and Sango.  
  
She jumped when she spotted Myoga sitting on Sango's shoulder.  
  
"Hello little lady." He replied.  
  
She didn't like him from the start.and just as Kagome and Inuyasha did most times when the flea had given them an excuse, she plucked him off the pink kimono top Sango wore and squished him between her thumb and finger.letting him float softly to the ground.  
  
"Hi flea." She replied.stepping by. Five minutes later.Kagome had placed her backpack inside the hut, and had come out.expecting to tell her young cousin to go home, for this was no place for some one so young and inexperienced with this time as she was.  
  
She never got the chance however.she only just witnessed Inuyasha come jogging over the ridge.Tetsusaiga out.looking for something.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted.but receiving no reply. He seemed not to see her. She was ready to yell again.when she noticed trees jumping in a day where there was no wind to be had.and leaves falling in clumps. Then she sensed the slight twang of a Shikon shard in the area.one.two.three all together.  
  
There was a demon around.  
  
"Miroku, Sango, there's three shikon shards in the area. Get ready.Kaede, I need a bow and a quiver of arrows, and Jole to be taken in side and protected."  
  
Kaede nodded and pressed the young girl into the hut, only stepping out once more with Kagome's long bow and her quiver.  
  
"Thanks." Kagome replied, glancing around. Hadn't Kojika gone with Inuyasha? Where was she now?  
  
"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, jumping down just in time to slash the ground, where a demon had supposedly just landed. He didn't hit his mark however.although Kagome didn't know how she knew this.  
  
"What's wrong Inuyasha?" asked Miroku, surveying the area. "Where's Kojika?"  
  
"We were attacked." Replied Inuyasha.and Kagome only just barely caught the glimpse of fresh red blood leaking for his hoari, at his left arm. He was fighting hard not to show any pain in his expression.  
  
"By what?" Asked Sango, quickly abandoning her peasant kimono for her exterminator garb.  
  
"I don't know." Inuyasha replied, standing in front of Kagome protectively, Tetsusaiga before him, prepared to attack. "Kojika's fighting with them now."  
  
And it was evident. There were branches falling from nearby trees and pieces of ground erupting. Every now and then they would feel a brush of unnatural wind made from an attack or gesture.but not for a long while did they see whoever was fighting.or who was winning. Finally though, the group was able to see the fighters as they slowed down and took stances adjacent to each other. Kojika landed about ten feet in front of Inuyasha, seeming to protect them in a conserved sort of way.  
  
Before her.landed two fighters.one female and one male.  
  
The female displayed bright red locks of silk like hair.that danced before pink eyes like dandelions in the wind. She wore a short cut kimono with large sleeves and large bottoms.but a cross over design on the front displayed that she pinned her jacket closed with special silver pins. Her feet were covered in sandals, tied tightly to her heel. Her lips wore bright red lipstick and her eyes had the appearance of mischief. Her partner, a male a head taller than she.had purple locks of hair, more stern and straighter than hers, and eyes with a befitting light blue texture to them. His apparel was similar to that of what Sesshomaru wore every time they encountered him. Long flowing jacket, with the embroidery of black dragons laced in the fabric, heavy set black pants with a tight catch at the ankle, and fighting slippers, fit for battle. In his hand was a rather thin sword.that looked capable of falling to pieces with a simple strike from the Tetsusaiga.  
  
Kojika had her sword out as well.and huffing.she growled.  
  
"What are you doing here?" She asked.shouting back at the other two.  
  
"Why, Kojika darling.I would think you knew why we were here." Replied the female, smirking. It was she who had the shards.stuffed in her left hand...It had to be her fighting hand.  
  
"Refresh my memory." Kojika replied.re-sheathing her sword.  
  
"Why must we? You know sure enough of your demise." Came the male.  
  
"Yakume, Reiko, it would be best you left here.before I am forced to kill you." Kojika replied sternly, staring at them with malevolent eyes.  
  
Neither of the two before her looked worried in the least.  
  
"The elder has asked we finish the work we didn't when you were exiled. We've merely come to finish his desire." Came Reiko, the male.  
  
"Yes.and he has been most generous to us.giving us such power." Acknowledged the female, Yakume, smiling.  
  
"Well.both of you.it would be best you turned your tiny little hides around and went back to your elder.Tell him that if he sends others after me.I will kill them like I did with the guards that tried to stop me from leaving the first time.you understand.?"  
  
Kojika was beginning to growl ferociously like tigers do when they've been hit with something over the head.  
  
"That cannot do Kojika my dear." Came Yakume. "We've been assigned to kill you and that's that. Reiko."  
  
The male stepped up, pulling forth his sword, and the two disappeared, fighting at a speed so fast not even those with demon's eyes could catch them. Inuyasha became more protective.more suspicious of the air around him. He wanted to get Kagome and the others away from the area, but feared that the demons fighting would trample them to death if they dared. And he couldn't exactly help because the demon's fighting were of Kojika's class of fighting.not his.he couldn't even catch their movements at the moment. Plus, he already knew that he was not in a very ample fighting condition, with the large gash at his side. He had tried to hide it from Kagome, so she wouldn't notice it.but somehow.he suspected she had.  
  
How would he protect his friends? Or was this it? Would they never make it to finding Naraku and exacting his revenge.their revenge?  
  
Stop thinking like that Inuyasha! shouted his mind. It's not over yet! Keep with them so you can stop them if they get too close!  
  
He drew farther back, making sure Kagome was well protected, and snapped his eyes around the area, searching for the demons.  
  
Who were these demons? And why were they after Kojika? Had it something to do with her past and her exile? Or was it something else.? Something these creatures feared for some reason.? A secret she'd told no one else.?  
  
He felt the quick spray of dirt thrust up at his feet, and.in the moment of surprise.he was unable to block his eyes.  
  
The tiny particles entered his lids, and.growling, he clawed at them to try to remove them.being careful he didn't hurt Kagome in his attempt.  
  
But he was glad the miko was so very smart.  
  
She snatched his scraping claws from his eyes, and, commanding Shippo to collect a water bottle from her pouch, comforted Inuyasha.telling him to keep calm and stop scratching.  
  
For once he listened to her.but he couldn't for long. Since his eyes were disabled, his ears seemed to become more effective.more in tune with the surroundings. He could hear the swift movements of the fine clothing both demons were dressed in as they fought.could hear the swords clashing and the grunts and growls that came from them as they sped to fighting the other.racing to keep from being stabbed. He could hear the soft chuckles of Yakume, as she watched with darting eyes over the fighters.the only one that knew what was happening.  
  
Inuyasha heard.and this expanded sense helped him this moment.when he sensed Reiko get too close.  
  
He heard the wind rattling around the thin sword the demon possessed, and Kojika's attempts to stop him from completing his attempt.  
  
In a movement of pure instinct, Inuyasha had jumped over Kagome, faster perhaps than that of the demon's fighting.and gagged on a shriek when he felt the sharp jab of the sword dig into his back.left to his spine. Of course.the object didn't remain thrust in his back.it jumped away as soon as Kojika made it to the sight. He could hear her startled growl.and hear her angry snarl.  
  
Kojika was getting mad.  
  
Kagome held Inuyasha in her arms, staring...close to tears.at the thick red spews of blood coming from his back. Shippo had finally come with the water.and turning Inuyasha round on his side gently (so that she didn't get dirt in his wound) she splashed his eyes to clear them of the dirt, and then his wound, to try her best to wash the blood from the red hoari.  
  
Shippo was panting.he had ran as fast as his fox feet could carry him.and still he was too late.Kagome could see that.  
  
She could also see that Sango and Miroku had stepped before them.both of them in a fighting stance they preffered.ready should the demon try to attack again. This was one of those times Kagome was glad she had such loyal, powerful friends on her side.  
  
There was a thick heavy slash heard across the distance, and the two fighters stepped back into visual sight.Kojika and Reiko both panting.but Kojika was smiling.and Reiko was holding a bleeding shoulder.  
  
"You do not touch the others! Do so again.and I will snip more than just your shoulder with my blade and claws." Kojika replied.clicking her nails together as if to add effect. Reiko growled.revealing sharp canine like teeth.  
  
"You forget.you've only had me to fight until now. There is still Yakume you've yet to contend with." He whispered, glancing over at the grinning female demon.  
  
She was clicking her tongue, scraping her nails across her face as if to rid herself of an itch, and then stepped forward.raising the arm the shikon shards were in.  
  
"He's right. I've yet to try my hand at you. Unfortunately, I'm not as fast as my brother here is.so I'll have to fight long distance." Yakume chuckled, and with one swift jump she had landed at least a fourth of a mile away.stretching her hand out before her triumphantly.  
  
"Now you die!" She shouted.forming her fingers as if she was going to grab something.and with a strange energy, she formed five tiny balls of pink light.glittering diabolically. They were growing pink orbs.fast to almost join in each others form. Finally, after she had readied her attack, she fired, sending the orbs together like one giant beam.one powerful blast. She wasn't just aiming at Kojika of course.but everyone else behind her.  
  
Inuyasha wasn't strong enough to move.and he feared that he couldn't protect Kagome this time.  
  
But a miracle helped him away from the blast.  
  
He couldn't see what happened, but when he managed to open his eyes painfully, he saw Kojika hanging over him, staring back at Yakume, a look of disgust in her face.  
  
But he smelt blood.was it Kagome's?  
  
Instinctively, Inuyasha searched for Kagome, and found her sitting up right next to him.not a scratch on her.  
  
Then where was the smell of blood coming from? It wasn't his.he knew his blood all too well. but that would mean.  
  
He took another look at his master.and noticed.in disgust.that her chest had a deep wound.one that went straight through her shoulder. She'd been hit by the laser directly, and was now bleeding thickly.  
  
He tried to whisper her name.to ask if she was alright or close to death.but his voice left him.a thick ball of fear in his throat.keeping his voice at bay.  
  
But what about Miroku and Sango? Had they escaped? One glance past the gaping crater the blast had landed in, told him that Kirara had come into play and had swiftly brushed Miroku, Sango, and Shippo out of the way.  
  
Inuyasha was glad.  
  
But what about Kojika? Could she still fight?  
  
Again he didn't get a chance to try to ask. Yakume was preparing another laser.again aiming it at Kojika.and some how.in her stance.Inuyasha noticed that she was unable to move.that she was held fast with bleeding or fear; he hoped it was only bleeding.  
  
Yakume hadn't let her smile drop.but now Reiko was right next to her.chuckling with delight as he mocked them all for having jumped out of the way so fast.  
  
"Almost as fast as us.but then again.no one can catch us.not even the fabled Kojika!"  
  
Yakume nodded, and once more.she let her energy fly out at them.but there would be no hope this time.  
  
Inuyasha couldn't pick himself up from the ground, Kojika couldn't stand up and attack, and everyone else didn't have the energy.  
  
How would they escape? What miracle would shine it's bright this time?  
  
But there was a miracle.or more like a very bright purple light.  
  
He only caught a slight glimpse of it, as it zipped from behind him.striking the pink light head on.and with a short battle of strength.annihilated the laser and sped straight towards the user.blowing of the hand she had used to attack.  
  
Of course.Yakume had lost her smile.and stood.horrified at the bloody mess where her hand had once been.  
  
Reiko stared at it too, and, angrily, he glared to the direction the attack had come from.  
  
For a moment.Inuyasha thought Kikyo had arrived and saved them.but one look back told him someone else had.someone more powerful.and becoming more skilled.  
  
Kagome was standing stark straight.long bow in her hand.teeth grit together in a dangerous snare.another arrow equipped in the hold of her sleek bow.  
  
"What!? A human girl did this damage!" Reiko snarled, balling his hands into fists.  
  
"Leave here right now Yakume and Reiko.or I swear.it won't just be your hands I blow off!" Shouted Kagome, stretching her arrow farther back in a snip of rage.  
  
"No chance girl!" Shouted Reiko once more, Yakume seeming to surprised to answer on her own.  
  
"Well then! Get ready to lose your heads!" Shouted Kagome, preparing to let her arrow fly. But Kojika didn't let her.the dragon demon stood up before the miko, holding her hand right before the arrow, ensuring that if it were fired, her hand would go with it.  
  
"What?" asked Kagome, staring at the demon.  
  
"No. This is my battle. I won't have you involved." Kojika replied, stepping forward, her hand clasped over her bleeding wound.  
  
"Don't make me mad you two." She said quietly in the demon's direction.  
  
"Why.we've already proven we can beat you any time.anywhere? Why stop now?"  
  
Reiko responded, whipping out his confident smile.  
  
"So you think you've seen all of my abilities eh?" asked the Draymon, beginning to smile herself.  
  
"Maybe." Came Reiko.  
  
"You two. I hate to have to kill you.as young as you are. You were mere newlings when I left.barely even capable of reading a simpleton's mind.and now.with the aid of artificial magic.you hope to beat one who has lived for over a thousand years.who has seen so many battles and learned so many techniques. You think you can beat an ancient Draymon such as I, with these barrowed attacks, and these preternatural abilities. I think you should spend another two hundred years on the Solitude Islands to learn for truth your stupidity." Kojika was beginning to snarl, her fangs glittering brightly in the day light.  
  
"We can take you anytime!" Replied Yakume, finally recovering from her shock. She was no longer staring at her lonely wrist.  
  
Kojika stopped only about ten feet from where they stood, snarling malevolently.  
  
"Fine. Let's see if you can champion a clearer appearance. I doubt you can beat my full Dragon's form.so I'll only give you a taste of the variety of bodies I've learn to transform into."  
  
Kojika raised her hand above her head.seeming to summon something from the sky.and with a quick wisp of wind (the first real breeze all day) the clear blue sky began to disappear behind dark gray clouds. Soon, lightning was blazing from the dreary overhead, and Kojika skin was beginning to take another flash of color.her clothing was morphing.her face was shifting.  
  
A dark mist surrounded her from the feet up.and more lightning was the only light to the area. The villagers had appeared, gathered behind the crater Yakume's blast had left.gawking at the strange happening before them. Even Jole had joined the crowd, just as awestruck as they, maybe even more.  
  
Kagome was beginning to feel fear.she could sense the energy in the mist.the power it held.  
  
It was cold.dark.dreary.the only thing she could feel in her mind was a sharp sensation of ice.as if someone had thrust of Popsicle next to her brain. Something was terribly wrong here.the sweet human like Draymon they thought they knew.wasn't as she seemed.  
  
Finally.after their patience had nearly withered.the mist rose.sweeping around the graceful legs first, revealing white toes with long sharp toenails, the legs wrapped in draped black pants...Then came the waist.revealing many different throwing daggers and one heavily large Katana, the size of a man and most likely just as heavy. Then the arms and chest were revealed, showing the large sleeved top of a fine silk black Kimono.with a silver pin closing the front.and a sharp claw like bracelet wrapping around one of her wrists. Then the neck and lower part of the face was revealed.displaying a graceful neck.with a necklace tight around it.sharp demon talons hanging loosely but dangerously from it. Silver eyes glowed through the mist.leaving a shiver of terror along Kagome's spine.  
  
What had Kojika become?  
  
Finally.the mist had fully disappeared from the head.leaving a long trail of fine shiny silk strands of black hair.strips of silver along it.and a face so well rounded.so serene. There were two braids.one hanging before each ear.and only a smile allowed anyone to know what this knew creature was thinking.what demise was planned from her deceitful mind.  
  
"Now.let's get things really started."  
  
*What do you think so far? Give me reviews.I have to get this fight under way.and hopefully I'll get it written this weekend, so if it seems to be late.blame it on the evil homework!* 


	18. A Different Dragon

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and co. but I solely wished I did. Man would that scare my bullies away!  
  
*Sorry if these chapters seem to be getting longer and longer.but so far I've found that there are so many details to add.that before I know it.I have four or more entire pages on word to work with.*  
  
Chapter 18  
  
What had his master become?  
  
The long silk black hair that reached to her waist, not a kink.not a split end. Just glossy black. And the eyes.such a bright yet deep silver.as if the very moon had conformed to fit into her eye lids. What creature was this?  
  
It couldn't be another form of dragon could it? That is.if his assumption was correct and she had changed completely.  
  
He already assumed the two she was fighting.were dragons themselves.  
  
Inuyasha wanted to stand up.he even brought the tetsusaiga close in an attempt to lean upon it.but it was no use.standing would increase his blood flow and he had lost so much already, that he was having trouble keeping his vision straight.  
  
"Darn." He cursed in the dirt.  
  
"Inuyasha! Please.sit still.you're going to bleed to death if you keep on trying to stand up!" He heard Kagome acknowledge to him. He could feel her hands on his back, trying to keep him on the ground, but not to hurt him. Inuyasha could feel her nails through his blood soaked hoari. He was sure she had his blood on her hands right now.and he growled low in his chest in anger. These demons! Look what they had done! Look what they were putting Kagome and the others through.him through.! He wanted so terribly bad to stand up this very moment and attack, even if he died for it. He would kill them.make them pay for trying to kill Kagome.simply because they were after Kojika.  
  
But once more, the hanyou stared at his master.his old mentor.with the radiance of death about her.and the lightning playing havoc in the back drop, flashing delicately around her straight form.her merciless smile.her dark deadly eyes.  
  
She planned on killing them.! They must have really set the Kojika he knew off the edge. The Kojika he knew.was a kind woman, who hated fighting much less killing.She would spare anyone.forgive anyone.and here she stood, snickering evilly as she most likely thought up the best ways to slice out the opposing demons hearts.  
  
She'd probably eat them too!  
  
The wind blew gently.cold.eerie.  
  
The demons stared at each other.Reiko with a bleeding shoulder.Yakume missing her left hand.and yet they still seemed confident.like they knew something that Kojika didn't.  
  
"So Kojika.darling.what sort of demon is that? I don't believe I've ever seen it." Asked Yakume, smiling.  
  
"Yes.and odd coloration of eyes too.don't you agree.silver.I'll enjoy cutting them out when you're dead Kojika." Reiko added, releasing his hand from his bleeding shoulder.  
  
Kojika didn't reply.she simply frowned upon them.her silver eyes never wavering.never blinking.  
  
Kagome began to see the other demons shivering. It was getting colder out here.the wind was picking up.the clouds were getting darker.and the lightning more brilliant with every flash.  
  
"Answer us Kojika!" Shouted Yakume, becoming impatient quickly.  
  
There was another moment of silence.as if Kojika herself seemed in fear of something.  
  
But alas, her form never changed.even when she replied:  
  
"I am still a dragon my dear Yakume.but you see.I have taken the form of the ancient royal dragons.the very ancestors that gave us our blood.you know of which I talk of I'm sure."  
  
Kojika blinked softly.  
  
"That's impossible! Not even the elder can take such a form!" Shouted Reiko. "You lie. It must be a cat demon or a panther. Answer up!"  
  
Again Kojika played her game of stare and scare. Reiko and Yakume were visibly jumpy now.  
  
"The elder has common blood.from peasant demons... He is only the elder.because he is good with dragon magic. But you see.my father was the main heir to the great blood.the ancient blood of the old dragons.the powerful ones. He passed it too me in my blood.and now I have this ability. Take a good look young dragons.you are seeing the true human form of Kojika the outcast! The human form you saw before.was another form.to blend in.but now.you see the closest form to my full dragon's body!" Kojika snickered softly, and before the other dragons could come up with a reply, she had pulled up her arm before her.showing them the soft white skin it was.and in an instant of concentration.had wrapped it in flames.burning a bright red in the darkness of the cloudy overhead.  
  
Another bout of lightning struck in the distance, causing her face to light up. When the flash had disappeared, Kojika was no where to be seen. The spot she had stood at, was now torn to shreds, clumps of dirt in large heaps.showing where each foot stood in detail.the shapes of heels dug into the ground.  
  
Yakume and Reiko searched the ground frantically.searching for the missing Draymon.but they could not find her.  
  
The wind pulled at the trees.whipping around the audience of the fight. men and women screaming when they felt the slightest breeze, believing it to be the seemingly invisible dragon. Many of them ran inside, including Kaede, who tugged a reluctant Jole into the hut to keep her at least a little safe incase a heavy war broke out. Kagome searched the crowd.watching the scared ones run off and the curious stand staring.  
  
She had to do something about Inuyasha.get him out of the area at least.  
  
He would bleed to death right here if she didn't do something!  
  
"Miroku! Sango! You men there!" She said.pointing to two tall strong looking men in the crowd." All four of them ran over to Kagome's side.  
  
"Miroku.Sango.I need you to stand watch here.make sure the demons Reiko and Yakume stay where they're put. You two men.I need you to help me carry Inuyasha into Kaede's hut!"  
  
Miroku and Sango nodded, pulling out their weapons and standing fearlessly and loyal before Inuyasha and the crowd of on lookers. The two men Kagome had picked out, bent down and gently draped one of Inuyasha arms over each of their shoulders.even as he cussed as spat at them to leave him be.that he could do it himself. Unfortunately for him, the loss of blood had turned him in a limp creature.unable to even keep his eyes open for as long as a second. The men carried Inuyasha inside carefully, where Kagome knew Kaede would bandage his wounds as best she could.  
  
"Hey you! We don't allow hanyou's to get out of the way that quickly from our sight!" Reiko yelled, running forward and taking one mighty leap forward.his claws extended.ready to attack the beaten half breed.  
  
But Kojika was sharper than ever.before he could so much as even land on the ground by his toes.she had snapped into focus and stabbed him through the chest.her flames burning a deep crimson to black crust around the wound.his hot blood pouring down the side of her arm thickly.  
  
His face etched in shock.his eyes wide.his teeth clenched.  
  
He only just took a quick glance down at his chest.before he gagged on fresh blood and fell limp on her arm.his head hanging like fruit from a tree.his eyes clouding fast. Kojika smiled softly, jerking his limp body off her hand and tossing him to the ground.making sure to bend down one last time to touch his clothing and start it a-flame.  
  
Yakume gasped loudly.staring at her brother's fallen form.eyes just as wide as his.shock stretched out upon her face.  
  
"You.you.killed.him.he's.he's dead.HOW DARE YOU!" She shouted.running as fast as her legs could carry her towards the firm figure of Kojika.  
  
"YOU WILL DIE!"  
  
Kojika stared at her.watching her make her way towards her.and then.once she was within distance.she balanced up on one leg.and kicked fast and strong towards Yakume's chest.sending her flying.her ribs cracking under the pressure.blood spilling from her open mouth.her body landing raggedly and sprawled on the ground.  
  
"Elder.you tricked us.you said your powers of instant healing and death energy could kill her.but she couldn't die.Kojika truly is.the fabled legend of darkness.." Yakume whispered.as the breath left her body and she passed away.dead.  
  
Kojika sighed.lighting her clothes on fire too.so that her corpse burned to ashes.  
  
Later.she would put their remains in death jars.and placed them in the graveyard.with a simple prayer for safe travel to the world of the dead.  
  
She hadn't wanted to go this far.to take her human like dragon form.the one she was born and raised in.but they had hurt her first and only student.nearly killed his friends.all in an attempt to get her by the elders rule.no doubt everyone there would ask why she was hunted.why the dragon's of home wanted her dead.  
  
She couldn't really explain it to them.she didn't know if they would understand.  
  
How would they.?  
  
She could smell the blood in the air.Inuyasha's blood.and she knew he needed healing.But she also didn't want to scare everyone else with this more dangerous form of her.this more deadly body.  
  
She sighed softly.letting go the body she was in now.to be replaced by her more natural looking one.with the dark black hair and the stern brown eyes.and the red and black kimono.The skies cleared and it was once again.a beautiful clean day.except for the bodies burning on the ground of course.  
  
She cracked her neck once before walking towards the hut.smiling gently to the jumpy monk and demon exterminator.as they stared at her suspiciously.waiting for her to pull something dangerous on them.  
  
Kojika had lost their trust.she knew.and the trust of many villagers.all simply by taking a form so she could help them.a body she called the forbidden appearance. It was.of course.closest to the dragon.but it was her natural body.her compact form.unless she went completely loose and set out the full body.most likely capable of covering half a forest with stomach alone! She smiled to the villagers.who all flinched and backed away.trying not to get too close lest she burn them.  
  
She could see their thoughts.see the pictures in their heads of they and their families bodies burning in a bright red fire.  
  
Kojika shook her head as she stepped into the hut.  
  
Kaede was looking over Inuyasha.helping Kagome to slowly peel the red hoari off of his blood soaked skin.the damage quite serious.the hanyou unconscious.  
  
This wasn't good at all.he was very much close to death.so close he only had to cross the threshold.  
  
But Kojika saw the thoughts racing his mind.and yet he had no control of them.  
  
The dreams of the dying.where they see their true desires.the things they did not realize when they were alive.flickering across their lids.showing them bits of their lives in order.like a time line of reality and fantasy.what has happened and what should have happened.  
  
He was too close.she would have to step in the way.  
  
She didn't want her only student and her oldest friend passing away unless he was prepared.and he most certainly was not.  
  
But one of the dreams he saw.other than his child hood when he was with her as they traveled.or when he was in love with Kikyo and promised to become human with her.caught her with a serious surprise. Like she had said.it wasn't of Kikyo.or her.it was not of his old mother.or of the older memories he used to have.  
  
This one displayed him on the beach.the waves of the salty ocean roaring against the rocks.and the trees swaying in the gentle breeze.and when she turned the picture around (like she was standing in the ocean or on one or the rocks), she saw him playing with a little child.a young girl with long black hair kept in a neat braid.a small villagers kimono over her.a light blue in coloration.silver streaks in her hair.and when she turned around.her eyes were brown.with tiny slivers of gold in them.a smile on her face. Inuyasha himself was smiling too.wearing his old red hoari as always.only his Tetsusaiga was missing.  
  
He kept playing with her hands.holding a piece of what looked like chocolate in a thin brick form above her head.laughing as she did when she reached up to grab it and fell clumsily in the sand. The little girl had to be at least five.and she and Inuyasha looked very happy. Then the other figure in the dream.the familiar young woman wearing a pink cotton kimono, the embroidery of blossoms along the front, stepped up.her pretty black hair swaying in her eyes.her brown eyes dancing.  
  
Kagome.  
  
Kojika understood it completely.even after the dream faded and his head began to go blank.  
  
He no longer wanted to be with Kikyo.who would blame him with her constantly hunting him down.hoping to kill him.but he also felt pity for her.and the fact that she had died thinking he had killed her.he felt he owed her more than just sweet words.he owed her his life.  
  
His last dream had been his truest desire.his most delirious yet realistic fantasy.  
  
Inuyasha wanted to live with Kagome.as her husband.and he wanted to have a child with her and no longer have to fight to survive.no longer live from day to day wondering if he would live or die.what demons would appear.  
  
He wanted peace.  
  
Kojika pursed her lips.her student was not going to die today.he had a fantasy to turn into reality.and a demon to destroy to finish what he had with Kikyo and be done with her.  
  
Inuyasha would live. Kojika dropped to the floor before Inuyasha.shoving Kagome gently out of the way with an:  
  
"I'm sorry.I can save him."  
  
She then concentrated on the last over energy.the bit that hadn't been used in her transformation or her seemingly invisible attack.  
  
It was just enough to heal his bleeding wounds.  
  
She spread her hands out over Inuyasha's falling chest (it was barely even rising) and thrust her energy into his body.forcing some to race to his wounds and seal them, and directing the other towards his heart to keep it pumping until his body could pump enough blood to keep him living.  
  
Kojika panted after having sent her energy.watching his chest fall.but not rise.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed.placing her hand over his chest. "Inuyasha! Wake up Inuyasha.you can't die!" Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes.flowing gently over her cheeks. "Inuyasha!"  
  
Kojika closed her eyes.fighting of her own tears.  
  
Was her old friend really dead? Was this the last of Inuyasha?  
  
There was a moment of weeping.of total sadness.where Kojika thought it couldn't get any more tense or sad.but something caught her eye.  
  
It was small.shiny.glimmering brightly from.Jole's hand.  
  
"What do you hold in you palm young one?" Kojika asked, receiving an outstretched hand an a small bottle of shards.  
  
Of course!  
  
"Lend me those." Kojika replied.but when the girl wouldn't hand them over due to suspicion.Kojika had to prod on. "Do you want him to live?!" Jole nodded.  
  
"Then give me the shards!" Jole flinched, and gave Kojika the shards instantly.frightened by the tone of voice the dragon had used.  
  
Kojika wasted no time.she pulled the cork from the top and dropped one shard into her hand.using it's power to energize her hand with it's energy.and.pressing her fist down firmly and strongly into his chest.pumped his heart once manually.forcing the shards energy into his heart.into pumping strongly with life.  
  
A second later. Inuyasha's chest rose up.first only barely.and then stronger and stronger.until he finally opened his eyes for but a second.grunting in pain.and then falling unconscious again.only this time.he was sleeping from exhaustion.  
  
Kojika smiled.  
  
He was alive, and living strong.  
  
She could rest now.  
  
Kojika closed her eyes.and, leaning against the frame of the door.fell asleep right there.relieved.  
  
*What do you think? Send me reviews! I need to know!* 


	19. A Truth of the Dragon Miko

*Sorry I haven't updated in so long, but you see...I had a lot of homework over the past time. With Spring Break coming up and a whole bunch of other holidays, school decided to load the students up on stuff so they could get it finished in time. I currently had a large power point project for History, twenty to fifty questions for Chemistry, about a hundred Algebra II problems, half a novel to read, and two or three work sheets for Spanish II, an HST medical course, and my SAT/ACT Prep course. Yeah...I had a lot of work to do...and there is still more...including a huge History project which involves every group in the class finishing a chapter, and teaching the class for the entire class period (one and a half hours) about that particular chapter. And we have to be accurate! I WANT SUMMER VACATION! Okay...I feel better now. Well...here's the next chapter...and I have many to put up, so you will have plenty to read. ^_^*  
  
Disclaimer: Inuyasha and co. do not belong to me...but if they did...I would go on adventures with them all the time!  
  
Chapter 19  
  
Kagome waved goodbye to Jole as she crept back inside her house excitedly...ready to tell everyone what happened to her and how much fun she kept saying she had. Her cousin had actually stayed with them a whole other day, waiting for Inuyasha to wake up so she could meet him properly, but the stubborn hanyou slept in the entire time. So...finally...Kagome had brought Jole home (Jole was supposed to go home in another day and she wanted her to spend time with the family before then).  
  
Now it was time to return to the Feudal era, to check on Inuyasha and Kojika and see how they were doing. Both of them had still been asleep when she had left to bring Jole back, and she doubted either would be awake to tell her anything about why the other demons had attacked so suddenly and ferociously. It had been an entire day since then...and already the villagers were patching up the destroyed road and the beaten up houses that the heavy lightning and fighting had caused. A few picked up the ashes of what was left of Reiko and Yakume and placed them in death jars to be put in the graveyard...so that their souls might find the after life without trouble. Kagome sighed...how sad death seemed.  
  
She was sorry Yakume and Reiko had been killed...of course they were obnoxious dragons looking for the death of Kojika...but they were so young and naïve... they probably had no idea what they were doing. Of course...she was a lot younger than they were...but still...she felt sorry for them. They were probably even tricked into trying to attack Kojika in a way of determining her level of power...who knew?  
  
Kagome walked back into the shrine of the well...and with one last look at her old home, she jumped through...hoping either Inuyasha or Kojika were awake by now. When she managed to crawl out of the well...Sango, Miroku, and Shippo were waiting for her...Kirara sleeping in Sango's lap and Shippo on Miroku's shoulder...talking about something that he quickly quieted on when they saw her.  
  
They had all insisted on coming with her to the well...as if they were her guardians now...Perhaps they felt it was their duty when Inuyasha was unable to do so himself.  
  
Inuyasha...  
  
The event had frightened her so bad...she was sure she should have had a heart attack. He had been unconscious on Kaede's floor...beaten...bloody...loosing breath...  
  
Kojika had used her magic to try and save him...and yet he had still refused to breath...he was still unable to wake up...  
  
At that moment...when she thought he was dead...she realized how dear he truly was to her...how close he was to her heart...it took an incident like that, just to show her how much he meant to her...  
  
Had he died...she most likely would have gone with him...she would have been a soulless body, wandering about the village...unable to move on...there would have been nothing left of her...  
  
But he was alive now...so she had nothing to worry about...  
  
He had met death's door and refused to open it...he had passed it up and returned to the light of life...returned to her...  
  
"Did Jole get home safely?" She heard Sango ask. Sango had taken quite a liking to Jole...and was a little depressed that she had to leave before she could teach the girl how to use her boomerang.  
  
"Yeah." Kagome nodded with a weak smile...she was trying to seem happy...but the happenings of late kept her sort of depressed...sort of glad...but at the same time...just melancholic.  
  
"You seem depressed Kagome. Anything bothering you?" Miroku asked, standing up from his leaning position on the side of the well.  
  
"No!" Kagome replied quickly. "I'm just fine!"  
  
Her friends weren't fooled.  
  
"Inuyasha will be alright Kagome. He's breathing good and strong...Kaede says he'll wake up in another day or so." Sango acknowledged, trying to cheer up her friend.  
  
"Yeah...and then we can be happy again!" Shippo chirped happily, jumping from Miroku's shoulder into Kagome's arms...giving her a hug.  
  
Kagome smiled, and hugged him back.  
  
They were right. She had to cheer up. After all...Inuyasha was alive...and he would be for a long time to come...she'd make sure of it.  
  
Kojika she knew...wouldn't let Inuyasha die until he was ready for it.  
  
But that reminded Kagome of another crucial fact.  
  
When Kojika had run out of energy, she had used the energy on only one sliver of a shikon shard to power Inuyasha's heart.  
  
How?  
  
Wasn't it that the shards could only be used as a source of evil...or was there a way of harnessing the power for more good than turning a hanyou into a human?  
  
Perhaps there was a way into possessing the power to keep demons away?  
  
If so...then Kikyo had never been able to use it...otherwise...she wouldn't be dead right now...and a ghostly wanderer.  
  
There just had to be a way...and if Kagome found it and learned to use it...she wouldn't have to be protected all the time...she could actually fight along side instead of in behind...whenever they were in trouble.  
  
She could fight with them!  
  
"Let's head home." Kagome replied...releasing her hug on Shippo and turning to the well worn path...leading to Kaede's village.  
  
"Right." Miroku responded...smiling.  
  
It was a mischievous smile.  
  
"HENTAI!" Sango screamed, slapping Miroku over the cheek when he rubbed her behind as they were walking. Miroku grinned and caressed the red mark on his cheek, while Sango marched ahead, snatching Kagome's wrist and dragging her out of his perverted reach.  
  
Yes...Kagome would ask Kojika how she used the jewel's power...she had to.  
  
The group made it home...to find Kaede pulling weeds from her herb garden quietly...and when they asked if anyone woke up...she nodded.  
  
"Kojika left only five minutes ago...Inuyasha is still sleeping though."  
  
"Do you know where she went Kaede?" Kagome asked curiously.  
  
"No...she just said she'd be back in a little while...that she needed some fresh air—"  
  
"WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYBODY!" shouted a familiar grump from the hut.  
  
"Sounds like Inuyasha's awake." Miroku acknowledged nodding.  
  
Kagome set Shippo on the ground and ran in to the hut with a huge grin on her face.  
  
He was awake alright.  
  
She found Inuyasha sitting up, fighting with his own limbs to try to stand, when she came in.  
  
"There you are!" Inuyasha replied rudely. "Where the hell were you?"  
  
"I took Jole back home." Kagome replied, shoving his mad questions aside.  
  
"Who's Jole?" He asked.  
  
"My cousin."  
  
She received a grunt from Inuyasha on this, who fell to the floor after his attempt to stand up. "Just lay down Inuyasha...you're too beaten up to try and stand up yet." Kagome told him sternly...forcing him to lay back with a stubborn glare.  
  
Inuyasha obeyed after a second time of falling on his rump and glared back...arms crossed painfully.  
  
"What happened to the demons?" He asked after a moment of silence.  
  
Kagome frowned.  
  
"Kojika finished them off."  
  
"Kojika?" Inuyasha narrowed his eyes towards the ceiling, staring at it gravely as he thought.  
  
She witnessed his frown deepen, and his hands tighten up as if anxious to destroy something.  
  
What had happened that was that bad?  
  
Why were the dragons chasing after Kojika?  
  
"Inuyasha..." Kagome inquired quietly after another moment of silence.  
  
"What."  
  
"Could you tell me...what happened when Reiko and Yakume attacked you and Kojika?"  
  
She knew he remembered. She could see it in the flash of gold in his eyes.  
  
The fact of the matter was...Inuyasha didn't want to reflect on it.  
  
"It was nothing..." He whispered, turning his head away from the ceiling, to the side opposite of Kagome.  
  
He didn't want to look at her...why?  
  
Inuyasha sighed.  
  
"They attacked us when Kojika was talking to me. They seemed to come out of nowhere and they attacked us with such force.  
  
They were not like normal youkai." Inuyasha whispered, closing his eyes for a second. "They were fast...faster than Sesshomaru could ever be...and far more blood thirsty than most demons are. They seemed to be more dangerous than Naraku when I first saw them. You've seen demons Kagome. They are usually blood thirsty, ready to kill or eat all in their path."  
  
Kagome nodded when Inuyasha turned his golden gaze on her...loosening the cross in his arms gently.  
  
"They wanted Kojika, but they also desired enjoyment...so they attacked me first...the girl Yakume...she could read minds just like Kojika...and she insisted that...that...she would kill us first...then hunt you and everyone else down like a cat to its prey.... I attacked her back...even when I was bleeding...I drew the Tetsusaiga and I tried to slash her in half! But that god damned demon was far too fast for me! I hate to admit it...but the only one that could possibly fight them was Kojika... When she took them on herself...she insisted that I run. I refused and she practically attacked me herself to get me running...I tried to loose them...but it was more like they were forcing me in this direction. I can't even believe such disgusting monsters come from Kojika's home...from her people. They were ready to kill everything that stood in their way. They were worse than Naraku."  
  
He snarled, closing his eyes...fighting tears.  
  
He was delusional...Kagome could see that.  
  
He had not fully awoken yet...like that night when the spider youkai had attacked when Inuyasha was human...and they had had to hide away in a room at the temple they were at in order to save him...protect him till he became hanyou again. It was just like that time that she laid his head on her lap and he mentioned how wonderful she smelt. He was delusional then too...but then why...why did she take such ramblings to heart.  
  
Kagome just realized that she'd been balling her hands into fists a moment later, and when she felt the pain of blood beginning to well up in the cuts made by her fingernails, she quickly released her grip. When she looked up, she smiled softly when she found that Inuyasha had fallen asleep again...and was beginning to breath gently.  
  
Inuyasha had taken worse attacks than that before...of course even Sesshomaru had delivered more deadly...but it was something more...not just in wound...Like in soul...as if Inuyasha himself had been denying life...  
  
Why?  
  
Was he really so tired of living that he wanted to die...?  
  
Kagome shook her head and leaned forward, pulling the sheets over Inuyasha's sleeping form, before stepping out with a smile.  
  
Sleeping...just like a little child.  
  
"How is Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, stepping up to her, Sango and Shippo behind him.  
  
"He fell asleep again. I think the work of the battle exhausted him a little too much. I'm going to go find Kojika alright." Kagome replied.  
  
Miroku stared at her suspiciously, before nodding and stepping in, Sango following with her own suspicious look.  
  
Shippo had inquired if she wanted him to go with her...but she waved his offer away and insisted that she would be fine.  
  
With that, she grabbed her bow and arrows for protection, and left the sleeping hanyou to his rest...her friends watching him protectively.  
  
It didn't take her long to find the youth faced Draymon.  
  
She sat a little on the inside of the forest...near the stream that ran about a yard or so away from the God Tree...the very tree that Inuyasha had been pinned to for fifty years.  
  
Kagome remembered the first day she had seen Inuyasha...As if she could forget right?  
  
He had been pinned...by one sacred arrow...delivered by Kikyo's bow...  
  
Kagome smiled...  
  
When she had first seen him, she thought him to be an elf or a god or something...with that fine silver hair and those cute little dog like ears you wanted to grab and tweak every time you saw them.  
  
The first time she saw him...  
  
"Kojika...Are you alright?" Kagome asked...stepping up to the dragon.  
  
She was staring at the God tree, looking it over with a sort of misplaced interest...as if it were a grasshopper or something.  
  
"I am fine. Sit down Kagome...I'd like to talk to someone."  
  
"Okay." Kagome agreed, taking a seat next to Inuyasha's mentor.  
  
Kojika continued to stare at the tree. "It's a lovely day...yes?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah." Kagome replied...watching her.  
  
Her beautiful black hair was pinned back behind her head in a loose bind of leather...her brown eyes were shining...as if they were the running water by which they sat.  
  
She sat with her left knee perpendicular to the ground, her left arm draped over it loosely. The other leg was against the ground comfortably, the bottom of her foot resting against the side of the other.  
  
She looked almost serene, if it weren't for the sadness that filled her expression.  
  
"He was worried about you you know." She acknowledged.  
  
Kagome gasped softly to herself.  
  
She was surprised at how blunt the dragon was.  
  
"I...I...well...I..." Kagome tried to respond.  
  
Kojika placed her hand softly over Kagome's lips.  
  
"Don't."  
  
Kagome closed her mouth.  
  
"He cares a lot about you Kagome." Kojika said, turning her attention to Kagome finally. "When Reiko and Yakume attacked us in the forest, the only thing he thought about was making sure you were well protected. I should know...as a dragon I can read other's minds...and my ability has become extremely strong. He couldn't concentrate while fighting...not unless he knew you were safe. I didn't understand why he seemed so protective...how he could worry so much of one person. Isn't that sad...how I've lived for over a thousand years and yet...even now...I don't know what love is like...I've only known that of survival...of hate...and destruction. I thought I didn't need such useless things as love...but I learned better of such opinions when Inuyasha was nearly killed during the battle. He protected you throughout the entire thing...and because of that he nearly died. But when I walked in and found him on what should have been his death bed...I clicked. I couldn't let Inuyasha die...Kagome...you and I have one thing in common for Inuyasha. We both love him dearly...you as a dear friend to him...and I as a mother to a child...He has always been like my own...as I took care of him as a youngster...taught him what I could before we were split apart like we were...and when I returned to find that I had actually helped him to be a little more friendly in the future of things, in making friends and protecting people. I learned to have power when one I cared for was in danger. Had I not...I probably would have let myself be killed."  
  
They were silent for a moment...Kagome digesting what the old mentor had told her...and Kojika...now staring at the running water.  
  
"Kojika?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Can you tell me how come you were being chased down by demons of your own race?"  
  
Kojika frowned, turning her attention back on Kagome.  
  
"Let me tell you something about me that makes me different from many of the other Draymon people."  
  
Kagome watched Kojika closely. What was this thing that was so different? All the dragons she had seen so far resembled each other in ability, except that she was much older than many of them.  
  
"My father was ruler of the Draymon tribes, and the demon lord of the Eastern lands of Japan, Hitoro Kazume."  
  
Kagome gasped.  
  
"What! Your father was a great demon lord!"  
  
Kojika nodded.  
  
"Yes...and he would still be alive if it weren't for my folly. You see Kagome...about ...say...five hundred years ago...I was one of the most respected dragons of my people. I healed the sick and wounded of their viruses and took care of the youngsters who had been orphaned. We dragons were of a peace loving type...and we cared not for battle or destruction...simply peace and to be left alone. But one day...when I had left the island of the Draymon and walked along the beach of the corresponding isle in search for shells to make a herbal remedy in, I found a beaten man...a human of his twenties...holding onto one of the rocks...unconscious. He had short red hair and nice tan skin...with the sweetest looking face I had ever seen. I ran to him, and checked his wounds...but he was merely tired and wet...most likely had survived a ship wreck and had swum to the island for survival. I awoke him with a fire ball from my hand...and was greeted with an enthusiastic array of thankyou's. He thought I had saved him...but I told him blankly that he had saved himself. I took care of him a while after that...for he could not leave the island...and I could not take him anywhere, for it was not my time of leaving home to find a mate yet. So I cared for him, but I kept it secret that I was a Draymon and where I could be found. But...I am sorry to say...that I fell in love with him...and told him, against the rules of the Draymon, where I lived with out marrying him. I brought him to the isle even, and he quickly created an uproar. Of course, my father wasn't that angry just yet...and he insisted that the man be killed. I convinced him to spare this man;s life...and I was told that I had to keep him near me or others would kill him. So I did...but after a while...I came to find that he held a deceitful heart...and a dangerous mind. He found a gem you see...a sacred gem to our family heirloom, called the Dragon's Eye...an emerald jewel made from the very eye of our ancestral race...He used it to get into my father's rooms...and then he killed him. Then he took command and, because of this, the people became infuriated with me. They resolved to kill me, and in an attempt to escape...I was exiled. This man I talk of, has used the Dragon's Eye to become immortal...and almost like a dragon himself. I had at first upon looking over his features when I first saw him, thought he to be a complete human, but this man was actually a hanyou... He used the Eye to become complete...and now...he is known to be the elder...because he has killed off all those that are older than he. I am the eldest one left...and he seeks my destruction to ensure his eternal glory. But there is another fact of the story he did not know."  
  
"What do you mean?" Kagome asked, holding her knees. She was completely interested now.  
  
"My mother was a priestess...a purely born miko. It's because of her blood in me, that when I became a full demon by ritual...I was able to learn the ancient dragon's abilities far faster than anyone else possibly could. Twice as fast...I should be twice as old than I am now to be capable of the things I do...and yet I'm not. It is also this fact...that drives the elder into wanting to kill me faster. He nearly did a good fifty some years ago."  
  
"The time you and Inuyasha were split up!" Kagome shouted, piecing everything together now.  
  
This Elder had sent lower demons to try and kill Kojika! Hoping perhaps that large numbers could do it, but it didn't work.  
  
Now he was sending feeble and naïve dragon youngsters after her.  
  
And miko powers could be incredibly powerful when in the blood line. She should know...she was the reincarnation of a miko...of Kikyo...  
  
"Exactly. My you are quite smart Kagome. Yes, those demons that he had sent were an attempt to lure me to my death. He knew I was weak in the department of wanting to save everyone, so he had an army of lower class demons attack a village, and draw me in."  
  
"Then why is he just now coming after you again after so long ago? Didn't he know you were alive?"  
  
"Not really. You see...as a human morphed into a dragon, he can't see what happens in other places, he is not originally demon...so he takes the word of the other demons he sends out for truth. They figured me dead for these past fifty sum years...but since I reappeared when your group was fighting Kagura, Kanna, and Sukira at that Inn, they've had to retrace their steps. I had been following your group for a while then, and when I noticed the demons attack, I stayed where I could not be found and allowed Inuyasha to fight on his own. I saw that his strength had increased greatly since I last saw him, and I thought he could finish the fight...but minions of Naraku have never been known to fight fairly...so I had to step in the way. I'm guessing a few of the Elder's demons were there and saw me...so they informed him."  
  
"I remember now! You were following us! I saw you at one of our campsites when I went to collect some water and fish. But I thought I was day dreaming and completely forgot about the incident!"  
  
"Yes. And Inuyasha saw Kazu the last night he was human...but he still hasn't confronted me about that either...so I guess he forgot about it in the same manner you have." Kojika smiled.  
  
Kagome turned away and watched the stream of water flow by...smiling herself at how complicating things were beginning to get.  
  
So now they had a dragon lord to contend with along with Naraku, Sesshomaru, Kikyo, and not to mention any other demons that decided to take a swing at them. But at least now they had an upgrade...a certain powerful miko blooded Draymon on their side.  
  
"I cannot help you in your battles Kagome. Understand this." Kojika said, turning to a slightly shocked Kagome. "Your battles between your foes to come and the ones you have now are strictly for your fight...I cannot step in...as I ask you and your friends to stay out of my battles. You cannot depend on me to fight for you...but I notice there is something else on your mind as well...it's been bugging you for some time now...about how I used the shikon shard to save Inuyasha...yes?"  
  
Kagome gasped softly and nodded...She had been thinking about that for a while, but at the moment she was still a little more curious as to why the Draymon refused to help them in their battles. It was then she was reminded by something Grandpa Higurashi said one time.  
  
"A battle cannot be truly won unless you fight it yourself Kagome. Depend on someone else to fight your battles for you, and you will never achieve your goal of being able to win...for when the one you depend on is not there to protect you...you will most likely not be able to escape your fate."  
  
That's right...now she saw what Kojika was trying to tell her. Inuyasha would never truly get revenge for Kikyo if he let Kojika fight Naraku instead...neither would Sango get revenge for her family's deaths and her younger brother's constant control...or Miroku being able to revenge his family and get rid of the Air Void in his hand.  
  
She herself would also have to step out of the way, in order for her friends to claim their revenge. Of course...she didn't have anything with Naraku...her battle was with Kikyo...she was the one that stole her shards and gave them to Naraku and she constantly made Inuyasha feel guilty about their past...even if she wasn't around.  
  
"Would you like to learn how to use the power of the Shikon Shards Kagome? They would help you in later battles."  
  
Kagome nodded vigorously, for the dragon had just asked what she was getting ready to ask already. "Fine. I'll teach you to use the shards for every evening. Could I borrow on of them that you have?"  
  
Kagome nodded, feeling that the shards were safe in Kojika's hands for some reason, and passed over one shard from her small glass vile.  
  
"Thank you. Now Kagome...take a close look at this shard with your miko powers. What color is it?"  
  
Kagome stared at the small slither of shard in Kojika's hands...watching the soft glow of the shikon power from it. The color was a soft blue...and she replied so.  
  
"Good...you may not be aware of this...but there are three different energies combined in one shard. Depending on who wields it determines the energy used. For you...the energy is neutral...for as soon as you touch it, you rid it of evil and malice. You purify it...Demons can only use it on the negative energy stored...which is a soft pink within the shard. This is the power of the demons, which at the moment is more powerful than that of the miko energy in this...which also happens to be the positive energy within. I'm sure you know the story of Midoriko and the demons yes?"  
  
Kagome nodded.  
  
Of course she knew that story...she had learned it from Sango a long time ago.  
  
The great priestess Midoriko was the most powerful miko ever known, capable of purifying the heart and mind of any being, man or demon...but in a huge battle against the demons...she used to much of her power and brought to much of the demons power with in it, so it took the form of a small glass ball and broke out of the spot on her body where her heart was supposed to be. Thus...the Shikon no Tama was born.  
  
"Good. Then you know that there are far more Demon souls in the jewel than that of Midoriko... so she is constantly overpowered by them. When a demon uses the jewel, Midoriko is over powered, so the jewel seems to shine with the use of more malice. But...what no one has yet to see, is that if the jewel were used by a human, or one with pure intentions, the jewel shimmers even brighter and more beautiful with the kindness than with malice. But no one has ever seen it...not even Kikyo, for she never used the jewel...only protected it. Let me show you what I mean." Kojika implied, grabbing Kagome's arm. Kagome saw where she was looking and noticed a small cut she hadn't even realized was there. It was already crusted with a scab...so it couldn't have been there long...but it wasn't fresh either.  
  
"The jewel has two different properties. When used for evil purposes, it gives a powerful energy to the user...but when used for good purposes..."  
  
She tapped the scab on Kagome's arm, and after a second...the cut disappeared as if it had never been there. Kagome yipped and pulled her arm away...staring with surprise at the area where the scab had been.  
  
"Now look at the jewel." Kojika commanded.  
  
Kagome complied...only to gasp one more time at the appearance of the jewel. It's light blue glow had deepened...giving it a darker blue texture...almost like the color the sky in the evening. The jewel itself sparkled brightly, almost as if it were a polished diamond...especially with the many edges it had for being a shard.  
  
Kagome reached out to it with out realizing it, and nearly took it from Kojika's hand just so she could take a closer look at it.  
  
"Now you see how beautiful it can become when used for good...and that was merely for a small scratch. You see...Kikyo's reasoning for the jewel...was that if used to transform a demon into a human, and that fact that it makes him weaker...is for good...so it will overtake the jewel and free the power held with in. But no one truly knows what may happen. That much good energy flowing through the jewel may actually cause it to free Midoriko's soul from within it and turn it into nothing but a glass orb...but there is no knowing of it. For all we know, if Inuyasha were turned into a human, the jewel may still contain it's magical properties to both good and evil. But we won't know until the entire jewel is collected. Then, once used...you'll be able to tell. As for now...we should return to Kaede's village, or they may send a search party after us. We have been missing for at least half an hour or so...and I would like to see how Inuyasha is doing. Yes?" Kojika stood up with a smile, but politely reached out to help Kagome stand.  
  
Then...once they had taken one last look at the running stream and the God tree, they walked away...toward the village.  
  
*What did you think? Well...send me reviews...I truly do have at least six or seven chapters left to update...and you should be rather interested with the happening's of the next ones. I'm sort of reaching the end...slowly...but they should be pretty good.* 


	20. A FightMen To Women

*Here's another chapter! If I remember correctly...this one's a little funny in parts...oh, and you probably won't recognize Inuyasha. It's the jewel doing it to him!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own the Great Inu and his group...but it would be so cool to travel with them. I wish I had a prayer bead necklace just like Inuyasha's, so I can put it on my brother's neck and keep him from bugging me!  
  
Chapter 20  
  
Kojika was as right as always...everyone had begun to worry and Miroku had actually planned on venturing into the forest to find them. Inuyasha was still asleep they ensured...and when she went in to check on them...a very agitated wolf stepped in the way.  
  
"There you are! Where were you Kagome!?" Exclaimed Kouga.  
  
"She was talking to me...step out of the way Kouga." Kojika told him coldly. Kagome shivered at the sound of Kojika's voice. Not the warm, care free voice of before...no, now it was cold and heartless as it was when she had taken that form.  
  
"I don't freakin' care if you're a dragon...I'll kill you if you keep interfering!" Shouted Kouga.  
  
He was beginning to get angry...rather snappish as well.  
  
"Kouga. You have guts I'll give you that. But there is still one thing that is bothering me about you."  
  
"What!?" Kouga shouted back.  
  
"Where were you when your supposed beloved was in danger eh?"  
  
Kouga went beet red in the face. That question had caught him completely off guard.  
  
That was right! Where had Kouga been when Reiko and Yakume had attacked? Then was the time they could have really used his help. He had speed!  
  
"None of your business!" Shouted Kouga, turning around and stalking away, granting access to Kaede's hut as he thought. Kagome gave him one last look before heading in...not even wanting to think about where the wolf had run off to. Besides...it wasn't like him to do that...was it?  
  
Inuyasha was still sprawled out asleep...his brows knitted together as if he was trying to determine something...his eye lids flickering. He must be dreaming...Kagome thought...as Kojika stepped in behind her.  
  
"He was stuck down the well when the battle began." Kojika chuckled as she sat down.  
  
"What!?" Kagome half near shouted.  
  
Kojika gave her a look of satisfaction at having surprised her, and continued in detail.  
  
"Kouga had seen you come out of the well...and then go back in. So when Jole climbed out and chased after you, he disappeared to try to get down the well again. He wanted to see how you did so. Amazingly...this time he was able to get through...as if the shards in his legs started working again. He went there...and found your family."  
  
"Oh no!" Kagome shouted...standing up.  
  
Kojika pulled her back down.  
  
"Don't worry. No harm done...You see...while we were fighting with Reiko and Yakume...he was trying to fend off your grandfather...brother...and your mother. Apparently your grandfather tried to pin him down with fake charms, your mother tried to hit him over the head with the broom when he surprised her in the kitchen, and your brother just happened to get caught up in the mess when he ran to your room, following your scent. That's why you didn't see him when you returned Jole to your house. He was stuck in your room, trying to figure out how to open your window."  
  
"How do you know all this? I doubt Kouga told you."  
  
"Course not. I had to read his mind. The wolf has no idea how to butt a telepathic mind out of his own. But he did ask a lot of questions when I was searching his mind. Like...'Who the Hell is in here!' And...'What do you want!?'. It was rather hilarious you know...I had to keep from smiling when I read his mind."  
  
Kagome chuckled. Poor Kouga...he had no idea...  
  
"Anyways...your mother finally forgave him for surprising her and told him to go back through the well before your grandfather hurt himself...so now he's back...just barely returning from his journey. I doubt he'll want to go back to your time for a while. Oh...and another thing...there was some kind of wreck before your house. Kouga thought of it as a giant metal like monster that made a lot of noise...that had people in side. He attacked it...that's for sure...but the people came out yelling and cussing at him. Do you know what the contraption is?"  
  
Kagome smacked her forehead.  
  
Oh great...Kouga had attacked and crashed a car! How were they going to explain that one at home?  
  
"Kagome..."  
  
Kagome started at the voice, but turned to see Inuyasha with his eyes open...this time though...he wasn't fighting to stand up like before. At least this time he was calm.  
  
"How do you feel now?" Kagome asked.  
  
"Great!" Inuyasha announced, slipping out from under the blanket and standing up...just to crack his knuckles and stretch.  
  
"Sleep can really regenerate someone! I feel like I can fight an army of demons!"  
  
"Good." Came Miroku's voice as he, Shippo, and Sango stepped into the hut. "That means we can continue our travels."  
  
"Yeah!" Inuyasha shouted, jumping up and landing softly. What the hell was up with him? He was acting like a little child jumping about and smiling. Okay...where had Inuyasha be switched with a five year old look alike?  
  
"I suggest we head out soon." Kojika smiled, standing up and leaving the tent elegantly.  
  
"She's rather strange...even for a demon..." Sango whispered to Shippo, who nodded agreement.  
  
"Let's go!" Inuyasha said, grabbing his already healed jacket from the corner of the room and putting it on.  
  
"Okay." Kagome replied, reaching down to pick up her heavy back pack.  
  
"Let me get that." Inuyasha said with a smile. Alright...Inuyasha was acting weird alright...why?  
  
"Get out of my way mutt! I'll carry that Kagome." Kouga announced as he stepped into the tent, also knocking Inuyasha into the ground.  
  
"Why you!" Inuyasha shouted, standing up. "You're gonna die!"  
  
Well...Inuyasha was back of course...but the way he was looking...meant Kaede's hut might be in danger.  
  
"Inuyasha...sit."  
  
WHAM!  
  
"@#$#% $&#$&!"  
  
"Sit!"  
  
WHAM!  
  
"Uhgg..."  
  
"Thanks Kagome!" Kouga smiled, picking up the bag.  
  
"Drop it Kouga. Or I'll have that same necklace put on your shoulders." Kagome snarled, her eyes narrowed and looking quite serious.  
  
Gulp. "You wouldn't do that would you Kagome?" Kouga asked, fighting hard not to look scared.  
  
"If you keep this up with Inuyasha I will!" and she picked up her back and stepped out of the hut with out another word.  
  
Miroku by this time was hiding behind Sango, in which Shippo was hiding behind him.  
  
"Man...Kagome can get scary." Shippo shivered.  
  
"I agree. Thank you my Lord for not letting her look in our direction." The monk prayed.  
  
"Oh for God sakes, get away from there."  
  
Rub...rub...  
  
WHAM!  
  
"Houshi you HENTAI!" Screamed Sango as she left in a huff, her boomerang close at hand. Now it was Kouga and Inuyasha's turn to try to stay out of the way.  
  
"Women..." Inuyasha shook his head.  
  
"You got that right. Just can't understand them." Kouga joined in the shaking of heads.  
  
"Come Inuyasha, Kouga, I think it is best that we leave about now...before Kagome and Sango get any ideas." Acknowledged Miroku, favoring the red slap mark on his cheek.  
  
"Right." Inuyasha and Kouga nodded in unison.  
  
Once everyone was outside, they came to realize that Kagome's bag was on Kojika's shoulder, in which it didn't seem heavy for her at all, Kagome was on her bike, still looking quite agitated, and Sango was on the larger version of Kirara, her face set on the road ahead sternly.  
  
"Let's go." Kagome replied with out even looking at the men, and began to pedal away, leaving them to catch up.  
  
"See yah mutt!" Kouga shouted.  
  
"Hey wait...where the hell are you going!?" Inuyasha returned.  
  
"I'm coming along. I've already seen in the past how you can't protect Kagome, so I'm coming along to make sure she stays safe."  
  
"Why you! I can keep her safe!"  
  
"Sit!"  
  
WHAM!  
  
How many times had it been this far...two...three...four... Kagome thought as she traveled along.  
  
Those men were always at each other's necks, couldn't they just get along for once!?  
  
Ah...but she'd already thought of a way around that...she'd had Kaede show her how to make her very own prayer beads for when these same kind of demons came along promising their love to her.  
  
She was going to have to make quite a few necklaces if things kept going this swiftly.  
  
Kagome smiled as she road down the hill...yep...perhaps she could get the one she'd made over Kouga when he was sleeping, that is if he was there tonight...  
  
*What'd you think of this one? Please people...I need reviews! I need to know what you think of my writings!* 


	21. A Battle for Ramen

*Here you go! Another chapter! After this, I have another...say...five more chapters to upload. Unfortunately, there a little short...but I'm sure you'll enjoy them!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. If you read the other disclaimer's, you find that out as well. Man I hate writing disclaimers! But hey...we have to let the Great Rumiko Takahashi know that her work is appreciated and loved!  
  
Chapter 21  
  
Kagome couldn't help but smile at the wolf's antics of breaking off her prayer beads.  
  
He had freaked out when he first woke up, feeling the cool beads on his neck, and then began to gag, rolling around on the ground like a dog looking to get dirty after a bath, and then had actually tried biting it off.  
  
"Wench...what the hell is this!?" Kouga shouted.  
  
"Down!"  
  
SPLAT!  
  
His face and body pulled to the dirt in a sickening blow to the chest as the beads took to affect.  
  
"Do it again Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted. "Do it again!"  
  
"Sit!"  
  
WHAM!  
  
"What the hell! You were supposed to do it to him! Not to me!"  
  
"Inuyasha." Kagome began with a smile. "I only have this on you to keep you from fighting. Now please...if you two stop being rude and stop fighting I won't have to say the words."  
  
"Yeah...got that mutt."  
  
"Down!"  
  
SPLAT!  
  
"Uhgg...." Came Kouga with his face in the dirt.  
  
"Kagome...I believe it's about time we began fixing dinner. Did you bring that Ramen stuff from your world?" Sango asked politely, not even paying any attention to the two canine demons on the ground.  
  
"Yeah...it should be there in the pack." Kagome replied, standing up from her perch on the rock to help the exterminator find the microwave-able packages.  
  
The group had been traveling most of the day...and had finally decided to rest here...a good piece of land just next to a cliff...in which the only thing at the bottom, was a swirling hot spring, in which she, Sango, and Kojika had gone down to a while ago to bathe.  
  
Of course, just to make sure Miroku didn't follow, Kagome had placed some prayer beads on him as well and had pretty much prevented him and the rest of them from peaking in on them until she'd come back and removed them.  
  
Of course...being a monk...he probably could have broke them off himself...but he insisted that this time he would be good...and to their surprise, he actually stayed put.  
  
Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy with these demons.  
  
Inuyasha of course was no problem...he wouldn't come down to look on them unless they screamed or something.  
  
Kouga on the other hand...  
  
Well...to say the least...he was an extreme pervert...  
  
In fact...he actually had pulled off a branch and tossed it over the cliff...just so he could jump in to supposedly "save them" as his intention.  
  
He'd earned a HUGE "Down" for him... in which he had been so far stuck in the ground, it had taken a strong nudge from both Miroku and Shippo in order to pull him free of it.  
  
Kojika of course...didn't react when Kouga tried his attempt...instead she had smiled...and then held her nose to get under water...in which she never resurfaced.  
  
Kagome and Sango had found her sitting by the campfire when they climbed out of the hot pool and gotten dressed...insisting that she'd had enough of the hot water on her skin.  
  
Yeah right...  
  
She knew better than every one of Kouga's antics and of what he thought about, simply because she could read his mind...  
  
Kagome wondered if Inuyasha had similar thoughts as Kouga.  
  
"Ramen!" Inuyasha shouted, running towards a sealed package of dry noodles.  
  
"Ramen? What's that?" Kouga asked, coming up to take a look at the package in Inuyasha's hands, and making the mistake of simply taking it from him.  
  
"Food..." Kagome replied...but she was too late to answer.  
  
Inuyasha had already become offended.  
  
"That's mine!" He shouted, grabbing the Ramen from Kouga's hands.  
  
Uh oh...  
  
"Well now it's mine!" returned Kouga, snatching the small tub from Inuyasha's hands once more.  
  
"Mine!" and Inuyasha grabbed it again.  
  
"Mine!" and Kouga punched Inuyasha in the cheek.  
  
"No Mine!" and Inuyasha kicked the wolf away and nearly over the edge.  
  
"No Mine!" and Kouga ran back and kicked Inuyasha into the forest.  
  
"Um guys..." Kagome began...wondering how she was going to say "Sit" and "Down" at the same time to get them to sit down.  
  
"MINE!" and Inuyasha jumped out of the woods and performed a flying kick into Kouga's chest...which sent him into the forest opposite Inuyasha.  
  
"Um guys..." Kagome continued.  
  
"MINE!" returned Kouga, and he too jumped out of his side of the forest, preparing a wind attack that swirled around his arm.  
  
"Guys..." she was beginning to get agitated.  
  
"MINE!" and Inuyasha pulled out the Tetsusaiga and prepared to send his main attack at him.  
  
"TAKE THAT!" The two demons chorused...by now it was Kouga holding the ramen and Inuyasha looking quite enraged.  
  
"SIT...DOWN!" Kagome shouted.  
  
Both Kouga and Inuyasha crashed into the ground...and Kouga lost grip of the ramen...and sadly...both men watched the tub roll towards the edge of the cliff...teeter at the edge...and then plunge into the hot spring...to be carried along through the current that connected to it down into the hot stream that lead away from there.  
  
"NO!" Both chorused again, fighting to stand up.  
  
Just as they managed to make it to the edge to look down upon the drifting Ramen...they found that Kojika had snuck up on them and then...  
  
"Loose something guys."  
  
"GAH!" and they nearly fell over the edge in surprise if it weren't for Kojika grabbing them by the back of their necks.  
  
"You two have to be more careful. You could end up like the Ramen." And she carried them to the campfire, both paralyzed because it was...of course...the back of the neck we were talking about...and she'd done good to pinch the area just right.  
  
"But it was Ramen..." Inuyasha snarled angrily.  
  
"Yeah...what he said..." Kouga agreed.  
  
When Kojika dropped both men, they were only able to look up and see one very agitated young woman.  
  
"Kagome...?" Inuyasha's ears drooped. Was she going to say "it" again?  
  
"Inuyasha...Kouga...you two don't have to fight over one tub of ramen. I brought plenty for everyone." She had her hands on her hips...not good...  
  
That was the usual pose for when she said sit in full.  
  
"Yes...Kagome..." Kouga whispered. He two saw the anger in her stance...the readiness of her lips to say the words that would send them into the ground.  
  
"Here!" She said, shoving a box of ramen into each of their hands..."Stop arguing!" and then she turned around and stalked away. Perhaps they were saved from the Sit and Down treatment.  
  
"Oh, Inuyasha...Kouga." She announced from behind.  
  
"What?" Both chorused.  
  
"Sit Down!"  
  
WHAM! SPLAT!  
  
Meanwhile, about a half a mile away, walking along the hot stream that ran through the valley, was the proud demon lord of the Western Lands...Sesshomaru. His loyal servant Jaken followed him along, dragging their bet two headed dragon by the reins, as the little human girl Rin, that followed the both of them, collected flowers along the stream's bank.  
  
"Sesshomaru! Isn't it a beautiful day!" Rin shouted happily, putting a flower on Jaken's hat, only for it to get pulled off and smashed under his foot.  
  
Sesshomaru didn't reply, as always. He just remained the same, quite demon lord that walked along, only giving a favored word every now and then...and only when he felt like it.  
  
Rin was used to this attitude, having dealt with it for a couple of months or so now, and was not surprised when he didn't answer.  
  
She simply smiled, and ran along the bank of the stream, popping her revealed foot into the stream now and then to feel the warm water trickle and around it, and to throw leaves and flowers in just to watch them float along.  
  
But she happened to notice a rather odd looking object floating down stream.  
  
It was a good sized box...colorful with bright yellows and blues and red, and when she pulled it out, the package was steaming hot...with the picture of a bowl of some noodle like soup on the front.  
  
"Sesshomaru...what's this?" She asked, looking at the package.  
  
The demon lord didn't stop or turn around, he simply continued on, leaving his associates to follow him only.  
  
"Rin...what have you found?" asked Jaken, turning around to look at the package in Rin's hands.  
  
"I don't know...but it smells good!" She replied, listening to her own stomach growl.  
  
It had been a while since lunch time, so by now she was getting pretty hungry. "I say we eat the contents!"  
  
"No Rin." Jaken turned around and placed his three fingered hand under his chin. "It could be poisonous or contain some venom from a snake. Could even have been sent down the river to draw us in and kill us."  
  
He nodded to himself and turned around, only to find to his horror that the little human girl had already ripped open the top and dug a hand into the pasta.  
  
"RIN!" Jaken shouted.  
  
This caught Sesshomaru's attention finally, who turned around with the same placid face he always presented, to find his little human follower was eating the contents of who knew what.  
  
"Rin. Drop that." He commanded, stepping calmly up to her.  
  
Rin did as she was told, but managed to suck up one last noodle that was hanging out of her mouth.  
  
"Id tasdes good Sessomaru!" She told him with a full mouth, chewing all the while.  
  
Sesshomaru glanced down at the package, and with his one good hand, bent down and picked it up, looking at the cover.  
  
"Ramen..." He read. He had heard of such a dish...but never tried it.  
  
About now could be the time to try.  
  
If it was poisonous, it could not harm him for he was a full blooded demon and Lord of the Western Lands, and he'd always had a system immune to such poisons. Sesshomaru handed the box to Jaken, and then with the same hand he had lifted it with (he only has one hand!) he reached in with one claw and brought out a small amount between his thumb and index finger.  
  
Then he took a sniff...found that the aroma was extremely tempting to his taste buds, and took a bite...becoming rather surprised by the flavor in which burst into his sense of taste.  
  
This was a delicious food, spiced just right and yet not to touch or soft in chewing.  
  
This was what demon's only hoped for at meals...instead of eating raw meat of course. That was good too.  
  
But this was delicious...and it could only be sounded out by a thoughtful: "Hmmm."  
  
"It's good right?" asked Rin.  
  
Sesshomaru nodded.  
  
This was such a great dish...that he promised himself that he would figure out how to get it made himself.  
  
This...my friends...was the first day Sesshomaru had ever had a taste...of Ramen.  
  
*What do you think? Sesshomaru never did seem to have an infatuation with anything but Tetsusaiga. But I will tell you something weird about his event. For anyone that eats ramen, you may know that there is a brand called Maru-chan. Now think about it...Sesshomaru...Maru-chan...Kinda weird eh? I never knew it myself, until my cousin Kojika85 told me about it...She kept saying "You know you've read too many fics and seen too many animes when you look at an object and correspond it with something in anime!"* 


	22. Another Shard Lesson

*Hello! It's me again with another Chapter. I believe this is the chapter that has many links to it...the next four or five chapters connect to this, and if you were to look at it as a whole, it would be one rather large chapter. Probably a total of twenty pages in full if it's really that much. Anyways...here's chapter 22! Enjoy!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but if I dug around in my back yard...I could possibly find a hidden well I could try to go to Feudal Japan in!  
  
Chapter 22  
  
"Nothing happened!" Shouted Inuyasha for the fifth time. He was beginning to get frustrated.  
  
For the last hour and a half, the entire group had pinned him and Kojika in a corner of no escape, and had kept them there with questions about how and why the dragons Yakume and Reiko had attacked. This little topic seemed to interest them most.  
  
The one that didn't seem to be getting completely aggravated by his and Kojika's silence was Kagome, for she sat in a corner of the camp area and stared to the sky forlornly, sharpening an arrowhead in her hand from one of her arrows.  
  
"Seriously Inuyasha, why did they attack you?" Shippo shouted, standing up in front of the crowd as if he were the leader there. "You're not getting anything out of me squirt!" Inuyasha replied.  
  
"Kojika! Why would you're kind attack you?" Sango asked, looking to the dragon. "Is there something you're keeping hidden?"  
  
"Please, please!" Kojika replied, waving her hands to try to back everyone away. "Curiosity killed the cat you know!"  
  
"We're not cats." Miroku replied, leaning forward. Inuyasha doubted the monk was in this conversation for information. He just merely was trying to get his hands on something he liked. Perhaps Sango considering Kojika would cut off his hand if he even so much as brushed her in the wrong area.  
  
Kojika was very protective of herself.  
  
"Guys...why don't you leave them alone?" Kagome told them, once she had thrust her wandering mind back into reality. Now she was standing up, looking for her back pack.  
  
"Why should we?" asked Miroku, watching Kagome quietly.  
  
"What happened between them and the dragons is there business, not ours. We have no right to request anything from them." She said simply, finally finding her pack of mysteries.  
  
Inuyasha always checked on the things that she brought back when she wasn't looking, always to find anything he happened to like. One time, he had done a quiet search of her pack when he felt like snacking and found some weird little package in one of the side pouches, dressed in a thin pink wrapping. He was curious to what it was, and when he asked Kagome the next morning, she snipped it from his hands with a red face and told him it was none of his business. He still, even now, wondered what it was that got Kagome so mad at him for. It was only a little thing right? What did she use it for? Amazingly, she always seemed to have them when she was in heat, but at the moment, she had caught onto his little late night search parties in her back pack, and had learned to sleep next to it so he would have to wake her up if he wanted anything.  
  
"Kagome, what are you looking for?" Shippo asked, watching the miko curiously.  
  
"Prayer beads." She responded.  
  
The three gulped. They had already seen the type of job she had placed on Kouga's neck, and the fact that it did the same thing as when she told Inuyasha to sit, made them think that their necks were next to be snagged.  
  
"Why-why are you doing that-that Kagome?" asked Miroku, scooting away from Inuyasha and Kouga.  
  
"I got an idea." Kagome replied. She knew she was scaring them by the mention of prayer beads. But they had nothing to worry about. It was only an idea she was working at.  
  
"What idea?" asked Sango, standing up to walk away from the two demon bloods, Shippo not far behind her.  
  
"I was thinking of making for prayer bead necklaces." Kagome replied, pulling out her little packet of Japanese beads.  
  
"Kagome?" mumbled Shippo holding his neck. "You're not-not gonna...do-do it- it are you-you?"  
  
"Do what Shippo?" asked Kagome, measuring some elastic string from her bag.  
  
"Put prayer beads on our necks?" Shippo answered, watching as she measured out the strand of string.  
  
"No. You guys don't have to worry. You might if you keep bothering them, but I was only thinking about making a prayer bead necklace for Naraku and each of his minions.  
  
Everyone sighed happily, relieving the tense air they had gathered in their attempt to get away from Inuyasha and Kojika. Not a single one of them wanted to have a necklace like Inuyasha and Kouga had on.  
  
"Thank you Kagome." Kojika replied, standing up from her seat on a tree root. Inuyasha nodded the same thing, and instead of standing up, scrunched up there, his sword close to him, watching the group.  
  
"So how long was Kouga going to be gone?" asked Kojika, sitting down next to Kagome.  
  
"Not too long he said. He was only going to check on his pack." Kagome replied, stringing the first bead onto the prepared necklace.  
  
"Why is that wolf-crap following us around anyways?" asked Inuyasha, watching as Kagome tied the bead at the end of the string.  
  
"He wants to get Naraku, just as bad as you do Inuyasha, and considering that we always manage to find Naraku when we're looking for a fight, means Kouga might actually get revenge for his allies."  
  
"What ever! When the hell are we gonna get going anyways?" Inuyasha requested hastily.  
  
"After this fog has lifted." Replied Sango, finally speaking from that moment of her silence.  
  
At the moment, they were surrounded by a heavy fog, thick enough to cut through with a knife, and not even Inuyasha could lead them out with his intelligent nose.  
  
"Hmph! Whatever!" Inuyasha replied, and jumped up into the tree he sat under, to sulk angrily about being stuck in one area.  
  
"Kagome, would you like another Shikon Lesson now?" asked Kojika, secretly bored with the situation of the moment.  
  
"Sure!" Kagome replied, happily, tying together her finished prayer necklace. "I've got nothing else to do anyways!" and she placed the item in one of the side pockets.  
  
"Good. Okay, I need to borrow another shard if I may Kagome?"  
  
Kagome nodded and complied, giving her another slender shard of the jewel.  
  
"Thank you." Kojika nodded. "Today I'll teach you how to use the healing effect of this shard. Later on, I'll teach you how to use it purify a demon's soul, the same way Midoriko did, and then how to control the power of it completely to your will, controlling the little bit of positive energy with in it. First of all, you have to learn to collect the energy in the shard together. You'll know when the tip of this shard begins to glow white. Watch." And Kojika closed her eyes, concentrating on the jewel's magic. A moment later, a pearly white shine appeared at the end farthest from Kojika's fingers, and grew almost to the size of her thumb. Then she opened her eyes and smiled. By now, everyone had witnessed the bright glow of the light, and had gather around it, except Inuyasha, who watched it simply from at tree, marveling at the power of the shard and how his old mentor was able to control it. "This is what you are looking for. This light is what Midoriko's strength is composed of. It's also the purifying power you have yet to master. Here." And with a blink of her eyes, the light flickered away. "You try."  
  
Kagome took the shard handed to her, and set it between her thumb and index finger, the same way Kojika did, and concentrated, holding it up before her face. She even closed her eyes in the same manner, and concentrated on the energy of the jewel. At the moment, all she could find was the bright flow of pink behind her eyelids, and she considered that this was a deep look within the jewel she was holding. Pink had never been under her eyelids before! She swam along in this pink abyss, almost like a fish in the water, and began to search around for the soft blue coloration that Kojika had talked about being the jewels positive energy. At the moment, the only energy she could locate was the evil. But after a good moment of searching, she finally found a slight trace, almost like a strand of hair, of the blue positive energy. This she reached out and grabbed, taking a good hold of it, and swam up through the pink, pulling the strand of blue along. There was a light above her, and it was that she followed, looking for wherever it lead.  
  
It lead to the opening of her eyes, and when she had taken a slow look at the jewel, she found a small shimmer of the blue light at the top. She concentrated on that light, feeding it energy in order for it to grow (she didn't know how she knew to do it) and soon, the light was almost as big as Kojika's, only she had not all the experience Kojika had, so it remained the way it was.  
  
"Good." Kojika commented. "Now... See here." Kojika pulled up her sleeve to reveal a small cut she had received a while back while traveling through the forest. "I want you to tap this small wound, and send the energy in that shard, into my blood."  
  
Kagome nodded with a gulp, and did as she was told. One tap on the cut though, only sealed up about half of it with the energy. The rest of the energy sped back into the crystal, as if afraid of what it was being forced to do.  
  
"I see you don't have the complete control. Try again." Kojika smiled, re- covering her arm with her sleeve.  
  
For the whole of that morning, Kagome practiced with the shard. Even when Inuyasha became fed up with waiting for Kouga to return, and forced everyone to pack up so they could go searching for the other shards.  
  
Then Inuyasha had also become a little agitated over the fact that Kagome was carrying one of the shards in plain view of demons, and after a huge argument in which Inuyasha was "sat", Kojika promised to teach Kagome how to hide the scent and energy readings of the shards from the other demons.  
  
This Kagome got immediately, and by the time they came to another one of the old villages of Feudal Japan, she had mastered the trick. She was so extremely proud with herself, that she hid the shards in various different places of the Inn room Miroku had secured for them with his way (cheating the Inn Keeper with repeated lies of there being a dark cloud over his inn) and roped Kirara and Shippo into finding them any way they could. Neither of them could, and soon, they had Inuyasha defiantly searching too.  
  
Then, when all three of them gave up, Kagome slyly pulled the missing shards from her sock and told them she had never hid them in the first place. Of course, this made Inuyasha furious, so he left out of the room to sulk.  
  
Strangely enough though, even as Kagome continued the game to the point of ending it, she found that Kojika wasn't in her usually calm mood. The Draymon continually looked out the window of their Inn, just as the sun was coming down, merely for the sight of the full moon.  
  
She was also a little jumpy, and of course, very preoccupied with the forest that surrounded this village and the strange cool breeze that brushed past the happy little Inn. Kagome knew there was something wrong...she had sensed a strange energy in the wind, and had even received a strange sort of...warning twang from the jewel shard she was practicing with. As if there was something out there she was to fear if she wanted to survive.  
  
By this time of course, Inuyasha had returned to take Kirara out to fight with, still practicing with the Tetsusiaga, and had left them alone. Miroku, as soon as he came into the village, had immediately been drawn to a group of beautiful ladies...all young maidens of the village, heading off to the stream to wash off their sweat from a hard day's labor. Of course, because of the lechers antics, Sango went along after him to ensure he didn't get into what she called "trouble".  
  
This only left Kagome, Shippo, and Kojika. Even then, Kagome happened to notice that all of her water bottles for the journey were empty, and so with a happy-to-follow kitsune, she and he left (armed with her bow and arrows of course) to the closest stream to collect some water for tomorrow's journey.  
  
Once gone, Kojika was left alone, in which, even she did not remain in the room for long. She stood up, her long black braid trailing gracefully down her back, and with one look at the room, and a click from her tongue to call her dragon, she left in search of their stalker.  
  
*How was the chapter? Please people I need e-mails. Oh yeah...and for those that didn't know what the sly little pink package that Inuyasha found in Kagome's back pack was, it was a pad. Women's thing if there is a guy reading this!* 


	23. Miko and Dragon Miko Meet!

*Now...if you get a little confused with this chapter...blame me! I decided to give Kazu a family...he did seem a little lonely. Oh well...if I say too much...I'll ruin the chapter! Enjoy!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but one day I might! (Yeah right...but oh well...I can dream...)  
  
Chapter 23  
  
"I know you're out there! Come out before I burn the tree you hide behind!" Kojika shouted through the trees of the forest.  
  
It had been a thirty minute walk through brush and leaves and now she could finally smell her quarry at it's strongest here...a hidden temple up in the woods near the village for the Owl God. Apparently these people had believed in great wisdom, for just above the shrine was the stone image of a great white owl with it's wings spread wide out over its perch. "I can smell you!  
  
You cannot hide for long you poor excuse for a creature!" There was still no reply.  
  
This being, in which Kojika was after, had been following them for the most of the day. Like a lost soul, it followed and watched, and Kojika found it's presence quite disturbing. This creature had the power to hide it's thoughts from her searching telepathy over its mind. This creature also could not be heard. For some reason, each step was so light it could not crack a dried leaf, and it did not breath...so it's breaths did not echo. It's smell was rather disturbing though...for it blended into the forest they traveled through...only that it had the smell of ashes...like that of the dead humans when they were cremated.  
  
"If you do not come out, I swear I will find you myself and it will not be pleasant!" Kojika continued.  
  
This creature was no idiot. It knew that she was here to destroy it, and so it watched her, looking for a weakness of any sort that could aid it. It could drift as well...merely from wind to wind, and then would appear in another spot, staring at the dragon until she would turn on it, then it was gone once again. Finally though, it saw it fit to appear before the Dragon's eyes.  
  
This creature, this thing of death and that was death, stood recognizable, almost with the same appearance as Kagome, if she ever wished to blend in wearing the peasant kimono. She had her long silky black hair tied behind her neck with a simple paper tie, and her top was a fold over white jacket, that was neatly tucked in a pair of large red floppy bottoms. Her feet were wrapped in the usual white socks that only separated for the toes in two areas (one for the big toe, and one for the rest), and her brown eyes searched Kojika's, as she held her great long bow firmly in her hand.  
  
"Who are you?" she asked, glaring at the dragon.  
  
"I am Kojika, and I guess you must be Kikyo, yes?" she asked, staring at the dead maiden.  
  
"Aye. What have you of me?" she inquired, as Kojika happened to notice the small army of soul stealing dragons come lining up behind her.  
  
"So, Kikyo, we meet at last. You do look like Kagome. I have come to ask you why you follow my group around. Is it that you still have an infatuation with my old student Inuyasha, or is it something else?"  
  
Kikyo cocked her head at this, not like a confused dog, but more like a gentle crane, trying to figure out what was standing before it.  
  
"Why I follow is none of your business. What happened to me and Inuyasha fifty years ago is merely between us. But if you do wish to hide Inuyasha from me, I will kill you."  
  
"Really...is that you're nature miko?" Kojika replied slyly, watching for any change in character on the maiden's face.  
  
But this woman was excellent at keeping a calm appearance. She figured it was because this woman had seen so much in her short life, and then now as she wandered in a dead body, that she was able to seem so lifeless.  
  
"If you stand between me and Inuyasha, it shall be." The miko replied, pulling forth her bow.  
  
"Stop. You are smarter than that Kikyo...to attack me head on with nothing but a mere bow and a little spiritual power within you arrows. You know I am not killed so easily as of that from a miko's attack. I will bounce it back and destroy you for good."  
  
"You are very observant Kojika. Yes...I do not plan on attacking you like I would with mere demons. But if you don't mind, I would like to test you on your ability?"  
  
Kojika nodded, and welcomed her dragon Kazu as he slid from the branch above her and onto her shoulder, patting him warmly.  
  
"Fine. Show me what you've got." Kojika replied.  
  
Kikyo nodded as well, and with a command from her hand, her soul stealers rose up before her...a small army of ten.  
  
"So, you choose to fight me with mere dragons then eh? Then you will loose most definitely. Do you not know, that my nature and blood, is that of the dragon race." With that, Kojika clicked her tongue three times, with one long whistle, and Kazu hissed back, rising up into the sky with a bright red glow. Small red beams shot off of himself, seven all together, and hit the ground, producing seven other dragons along with himself.  
  
The first to fall, was a bright yellow dragon, decorated with green stripes around his body, leaving long green spikes on his back and what looked like a tulips pedals on the end of his fine thin tail. His eyes were bright yellow, almost a shinier quality than Inuyasha's, and it yowled happily as it stretched it's legs and hind legs for flight.  
  
"Welcome forth Taki." Kojika told it, only to receive a happy chirp as it came to brush her face effectionately.  
  
The second to fall looked rather odd, with it's large black puppy dog eyes displaying a cuteness of it, and large oval like fins on either side of it's egg shaped head. It's slender body had not legs, but instead, where the legs went, were left thin little fins, deep blue to go along with the gossamer light blue of it's body. It's tail ended in a fin for good support. It too flew up and rubbed against Kojika.  
  
"Hello Mazi." She replied.  
  
The third had a very slender lavender body, with large exotic like bird wings protruding from it, and a large teardrop shaped head, it's eyes tiny slits like that of a Chinese human. It's tiny ears pricked up in swirls that resembled the wind, and it's tail ended in what look like a pair of birds wings opposite it's reflection.  
  
"And Lika."  
  
The next one was sleek, also with out legs, but had more of a resemblance to that of an electric eel with it's many flapping little hair in one strait line along it's body. It's head resembled that of a horse, with the proud chin, and it's ears tipped in what looked like that of lightning bolts.  
  
"And Niki." She said, petting the little green dragon over the head.  
  
The fifth one after that, had to have been a grass or plant element dragon. It's large green Siamese head was surrounded in large pink flower pedals, along with simple squinty eyes, and a pair of long thin mustaches that hung down around his chops.  
  
He had a long line of what looked like grass growing down his back, and a collection of tiny claws that resembled that of bees legs. His tail, was ended in a small twig with sprouting green leaves.  
  
"Hi, Reni." Kojika acknowledged as the little dragon rose up to nuzzle her face, along with it's brothers and sisters.  
  
The last one, was also the most frightening of the group of tiny dragons. It's muzzle was round, to help shape up the long keen and slender black fangs that hung from it, and its deep black orbs of a pair of eyes searched around, glinting with mischief.  
  
What looked like a tight black pearl necklace clung around it's throat, and sharp little black spikes stuck out in a thin line down his back. His tail was finely tipped, although it had nothing to hang from it like it's others. His velvety gray exterior rippled as he growled, and unlike his brothers and sisters, he snarled at Kojika and staring angrily at Kikyo.  
  
Kojika sighed. "And Moru. Dratted dragon, I am your master. Get over here!"  
  
Moru gave her an infuriated glare, but complied with her orders anyways.  
  
"So these are your dragons." Snickered Kikyo. "They are nothing but silly excuses of morphed bits of nature. They are as stupid as they come."  
  
Kazu came down and landed on his masters shoulder, nuzzling her like the others. "See how they all act like mere pets when they come to welcome you. Nothing but mere beasts!"  
  
Kojika glared at Kikyo in her most defiant way, clicked a message to her dragons. They all nodded, including Moru, who seemed to snicker like Kikyo did, and with a wave of Kojika's hand, they were off towards the fearless Miko.  
  
"Tear them apart." Kikyo told her dragons, sending them off.  
  
The battle of the miniature dragons had begun.  
  
*There you go! A chapter full of dragons...Who do you think will win? Kikyo...or Kojika? You probably already have an idea right. Well...so do I, but I don't think I've finished writing in that category yet. But don't worry, I'll get it written...I'm constantly coming up with new ideas!* 


	24. An Inuyasha Chapter

*This chapter is solely on Inuyasha and Kirara...He thinks a little...Fights a little...and well...acts like Inuyasha! This is a short chapter...but it's for the sake of the reader finding out how Inuyasha's mind works. Tell me what you think!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but I can sure dream, right?  
  
Chapter 24  
  
Far off from a distance, Inuyasha had taken another swing of the Tetsusaiga, able to use his Kaze no Kizo attack anytime he wanted to now. His fighting partner, Kirara, constantly dodged the little attacks, making it nearly impossible to hit her.  
  
"Sit still!" Inuyasha shouted for the fifth time, taking another swing, and once again missing for a target of an unfortunate tree.  
  
Kirara growled back her resentment at being willful prey, and jumped up once again, leaving one more ditch in the ground.  
  
Finally, Inuyasha was becoming tired with this game, sweat dripping from his chin and his breaths uneven and thick.  
  
"Let's take a break Kirara! You were a good opponent!" Inuyasha said, sitting down under one of the trees he had yet to destroy.  
  
Kirara purred her consent, and laid down, in full form, next to the sleepy hanyou. Inuyasha in turn, patted her on the head with a smile and sighed, staring up at the brilliant twinkle of stars over head. They seemed to sparkle like the many waves of the crystal stream, only they were frozen in place...little fire flies stuck in a black cloud.  
  
Then his thoughts turned to Naraku, and where he was at the moment that he and his friends were resting. He figured the mixed hanyou was resting as well, perhaps taking this time of the month to take his human form, considering that no one was chasing him...well...at least no one he knew about. Kouga was traveling with them in hopes of finding Naraku sooner, and all the others that he had damaged were on Inuyasha's team, traveling along with him as well. At least he thought so.  
  
That beast Naraku would meet his end some day, if he kept attacking the worst people as he was. He had attacked him, Inuyasha, the hanyou orphan whom had only a little after waking retrieved the great sword of destruction, Tetsusaiga, from his father's tome. Then he had also attack Miroku's grandfather and left the air void or Kazaana in his right hand. Of course, Miroku had been born over time, with a desire to avenge his family and be rid of the curse. That air void gave him even more power every time he used it, but sadly took more strength from him every day. Then there was Sango, one chick that Naraku really didn't want to mess with when angry. She could throw that boomerang with such strength she could probably cut Naraku's skull off his neck if he actually chose to show up for himself and fight, unlike the coward he was. He also had killed Kikyo, in which her spirit arrows could pierce any barrier and attack Naraku used. Sesshomaru, his own brother with the Tokijin at his disposal. Kouga with those two shard fragments and that powerful speed and rough kick. But the last one Naraku had ever thought he was truly effecting, was Kagome.  
  
Man, if Naraku ever took the time to show up and see things for himself, he would find his body and soul destroyed by one of Kagome's arrows when she was truly angry. She had nearly destroyed him once before if he remembered correctly. It was at a time when Naraku was winning and had half-near killed him, Inuyasha, with his own hands. Then she stood up, as angry as anything could possibly be, and shot everything off of him, from the neck down. Naraku had been disabled for a good amount of time from then on, until he got his body once more from trapping a good amount of demons in a mountain and left them to fight 'til the death. Kagome was not really one you wanted to get angry. Especially now that she knew how to make her own prayer bead necklaces and was learning how to master the Shikon no Tama's powers from Kojika.  
  
She even had the power to make Kouga as envious as he was of her, he the half-breeded dog demon, in which seemed to have more of her affections than that overly pampered wolf demon with the arrogant smile and the willing "You're mine!" approach that made him so very agitated. Why didn't Kagome just swat him over the face or cut of his head with an arrow and be done with it!  
  
Oh wait...there was one thing he was proud of.  
  
He no longer was the only one with a prayer bead necklace on, right? That wolf had one too.  
  
Maybe he could convince Kagome to tell that wolf to lay anytime he got to close to her.  
  
Yeah...that would work.  
  
Kirara's purring came in on him unexpectedly and he found himself actually petting the cat demon's coat, that soft silk that made up it's fur. He realized then, that had it not been for Kagome finding him and freeing him from the tree, and sticking with him where ever he went, and taking care of his wounds, he would have never made the friends he did, or become as powerful as he was, or gotten so close to getting back at Naraku so many times as he had. He really owed Kagome a lot for everything she had done, even though he took it for granted.  
  
And yet...every time Kikyo so much as even appeared or looked his way, he ran off to her, no matter how Kagome felt.  
  
She was always there, always taking care of him even if he was seeing the dead miko whenever she was around. She understood the fact that he used to love Kikyo, and that his love for her still lingered in him, but he had no idea for how long it would last. He was beginning to see Kikyo in a new way...seeing her for the selfish wench she really was. The dead miko constantly tried to drag him to hell with her, and constantly gave their shard pieces to Naraku when she could, and also tried to kill Kagome once to get rid of her competition. To say the least, the dead miko feared Kagome like she could no one else.  
  
Kikyo could kill Naraku when ever she chose, but instead, she insisted on leaving bygones be bygones with him and tried to kill himself in order to be happy. What a screwed up wench. Inuyasha was now beginning to realize, that his love for Kikyo, was no more...and that selfish unhappy woman was no more but a grudge or guilt held like a noose around his neck. He could not get rid of her, for he felt sorry for the fact that she thought she died by his claws. There was also the fact that he promised to live with her forever, and could never take back a promise. Unless something happened to Kikyo first of all...then he could be free.  
  
Inuyasha sighed a moment, and stared at the grassy plain he and Kirara had been practicing on. It was close to the village, with constant little rivets in the ground where he had struck it with his sword, and many paw prints from Kirara's constant bouncing out of his way. The wind was cool, clear, and serene, but for some reason, he couldn't keep a peace going along with his mind.  
  
His eyes were constantly darting around, thinking that someone was there, trying to kill him or catch him or something. He figured Kojika might be watching him, but he couldn't locate her anywhere.  
  
It was then, he began to notice a lone soul catcher, carrying a tiny soul in it's claws, and then another, and then a few more.  
  
Soon, a small army was traveling over his head, and the smell they left behind was nothing but worry. Their mistress Kikyo was up to something, and they didn't like what was happening. Inuyasha had an idea of what was going on, and on that little whim of imagination and worry, he woke Kirara up and ran from their scene, heading towards the mountain of which the dragons seemed to be fighting something.  
  
*What do you think? Rather interesting chapter right? And what do you think Inuyasha will find when he makes it to the scene of the battle? Do I have your curiosity? You probably really want to know what's going to happen right? Well I can't tell you...I want to be a good writer...so I can't tell anyone my little ideas until their written and finished...Now...be the good reader and bug me for answers!* 


	25. A Monk and Exterminator Chapter

*Now...if you think the following chapter is strange...don't ask me why I wrote it. I guess I just wanted something shocking to happen between Miroku and Sango...and this probably does that very well. For those that think Miroku and Sango should be together, this is probably a chapter you will like! Enjoy!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but where this an alternate reality I might!  
  
Chapter 25  
  
Miroku sighed happily as he took another cup full of sake. This was the life, he thought, as he looked over the many beautiful ladies that surrounded him.  
  
There were many Geisha, all of which had their bright layered kimono's on, and their beautiful satin black hair pinned back with a gold or bamboo colored hair pin. They had many sake bottles, in which one Geisha was now on his left side, pouring him a fresh shot, and the other was hugging his arm, smiling sweetly as the smell of lavender drifted from her perfumed neck and to the hentai's nose. Another two sat before him waving large leaf fans, and another wrapped her arms around his neck from behind, as one sat in front of him, happily dropping grapes into his mouth every time he opened it. Yes, the houshi was having the time of his life, and best part, was that none of the ladies objected when he patted their behinds with his perverted hands.  
  
He did not realize however that Sango was standing outside the rice paper door, looking in at the hentai with disgust. That filthy disgusting monk! She thought to herself. How can he enjoy himself so much, with so many women, when he has one outside waiting to be with him if he would only stop patting my ass!  
  
But of course, he did not notice her outside, so he merely continued fooling with the silly attention grabbing ladies, picking at his clothes and telling him how handsome he was, and how much each of them would love to bare his child. What rubbish!  
  
Sango gave a low growl.  
  
If that hentai didn't come out of there at this minute, politely, and with an apology, she was about ready to find her boomerang bone and demolish the little Geisha house. But of course, the Geisha had done nothing wrong but their duties, so she would have no right to do something that devastating to them.  
  
But how would she get Miroku out of there...she thought as she leaned against the stable wall of the House of Geisha. How would she convince him to get out of there?  
  
'Miroku...we have to talk...?' Nah...that would sound weird and the hentai would probably get some kind of nasty thought in his head before she even said another word.  
  
'Miroku...something's up...?' Nope...just as bad as the first idea.  
  
As Sango stood there, her hand on her chin, thinking over the ideas...she was unaware that the houshi had already sensed her presence out side of the hut, and was now preparing to come outside.  
  
Fact of the matter was...he knew that Sango cared for him...He had seen it many times before during and after battles...Fact was...he wasn't sure how much she cared for him.  
  
There were two reasons why Miroku continued to flirt with the ladies. One...was the he just couldn't help it, considering he was his grandfather's grandson, and two...it was to see how jealous Sango would become.  
  
Miroku heaved a sigh.  
  
"Ladies...I am most gracious for your hospitality. But I truly must be going." He told them politely.  
  
"Oh...but we were just beginning to get close..." Said one Geisha, with a beautifully long flowing pink kimono with the design of cranes and cherry blossoms along it. Her belt was a dazzling satin red.  
  
"And we were just beginning to find out about your home." Came another with a soft blue kimono and a dark blue sash...her design being white lilies.  
  
"I am sorry ladies. But there truly is something that I must attend. If you will excuse me." And Miroku nodded, and opened the rice paper door gently, peeking out to meet a surprised Sango.  
  
"I didn't know you were out here." He reasoned to her...basically laying out a little white lie for the demon exterminator.  
  
"How could you? You had too many ladies to pay attention to." Sango whispered, turning around on him so she didn't have to see his face. She couldn't take the feeling of always being second best to others, and it was because of that she couldn't look into his dark eyes this moment.  
  
"Sango." Miroku whispered softly, letting the wind drift his voice across to her. "Is there something wrong?"  
  
He could hear her soft sobs...knew how much his dallying with women hurt her...but he just couldn't help it. Old habits really did die hard. Her long black hair was hanging down over her soft peach face, and every sob caused her shoulders to shudder.  
  
Miroku truly wanted to calm her down, but in all his years of practice...for the first time...didn't know how.  
  
"Miroku." She replied with the same soft whisper.  
  
"Yes." He answered.  
  
"There is nothing wrong. Your ladies are waiting." And she raised her chin from her crying position, and began to walk away, one hand limp at her side, while the other trailed along the side of the building.  
  
"Wait!" Miroku's loud whisper caught her off guard. He grabbed her arm and held it there a moment, wandering what he would do now.  
  
"What? What do you want?" He could hear the quiver in her voice, the sadness in it. He felt sorry for her then. Sango truly thought she was alone in the world. She had a family she could only pray to, a brother that was a minion of Naraku, a heritage that was nothing but demon slaying, and a monk that broke her heart every time he saw a beautiful woman. Then he witnessed Sango turn her head, her glossy black hair curving over her shoulder delicately...her eyes moist and red and her face nothing but pain and sorrow.  
  
Suddenly...Miroku knew exactly what he wanted to do. And for the first time...he did not touch her ass while doing it.  
  
Miroku pulled Sango towards him and embraced her in a tight hug, nearly beginning to cry himself...but wait...he was a man...and men did not cry. He had even dropped his golden staff in the process.  
  
"Miroku..." Sango whispered, before closing her eyes and accepting his warm embrace. She could feel the gentleness of his touch...and the soft feeling of his cheek against her neck.  
  
"Sango..." Miroku replied. "Over every lady I ever flatter...you are still the number one woman for my heart and mind."  
  
This only caused Sango to sob harder into the houshi's shoulder...and the feeling of being loved, that strikes those that understand it...took her away from the troubles of the world.  
  
At this moment...nothing else mattered...there was only the night sky with the stars...the light glow of the lantern hanging before the rice paper door...and a monk and demon exterminator hugging softly in the cool breeze that was this cozy little village.  
  
But they did not remain in this frame of physical contact and mental embrace. The both of them sensed the battle coming from afar...their instincts working over time due to this intensity of emotion.  
  
"What's happening up there?" Miroku asked, breaking away from Sango, but keeping his hands on her hips with out thinking about it.  
  
"I'm not sure." Sango replied, wiping the wet droplets from her moist eyes. "But I would think there is a battle raging in the forest."  
  
"I think so too." Miroku bent down and retrieved his fallen staff. "I think we should check it out. No doubt Inuyasha senses it too."  
  
"Right." Sango nodded, turning towards the forest. The demons were becoming vicious, and there were many of them fighting at once.  
  
*How was the chapter? If you hate me now...go ahead. If you like the chapter, tell me what you think! I believe everyone should have a perfect match...although Sango and Miroku are the oddest match I've ever seen...it could work* 


	26. A Mini Dragon War!

*This so far is my latest complete chapter. This one centers on Kagome and Shippo, but not too completely I might add. It begins with Kagome, but ends with everyone coming together at the battle scene. I hope you like this chapter...and I will truly try to update soon! Enjoy!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but someday...I might be an associate artist or writer for the manga and anime! (Yeah...I'm dreaming again. But it's fun to dream!)  
  
Chapter 26  
  
Kagome's heart skipped a beat when she felt the first twang of the demon's fight from afar. She could feel Kikyo's presence up there for some reason, and Kojika's too, and the Shikon shards she had with her were reacting with their own pulses as well.  
  
There was something powerful going on in the forest, and the two miko blooded female warriors were there. If that were the case, she would have to be there too.  
  
She stared down at the three full water bottles she and Shippo had collected already, as the little Kitsune fanned out his tail from having fallen into the stream that was their chosen location.  
  
"Cold..." He continued to mumble, blowing on his tail and swatting it with his little hand. "Cold..."  
  
Kagome reached behind her and produced her small vile of shikon shards to examine. Each of them glowed a deadly dark pink...which only meant that the shards energy was working on negative energy.  
  
But how?  
  
She was the only one holding them, and she hadn't learned to turn the jewel shards into a certain kind of energy on whim...unless...  
  
Could Kikyo do that...or was it Kojika doing it...? Probably warning her or something...like she was needed for this battle.  
  
But Kojika wouldn't do something like that...to call her there...No...she would handle the situation herself.  
  
Unless she wanted Kagome to be there...to see something...or to learn something...  
  
Well...in any case...Kagome was not at all the kind of person to leave a distressing signal unanswered.  
  
"Shippo...do you sense anything strange?" she asked, pulling her fourth bottle from the stream...dripping with the clean cool water.  
  
"Yeah. It feels like there's a ton of demons trying to catch my attention all at once. What do you think it means Kagome?" He asked, looking to his mother figure for an answer.  
  
"I'm not sure...but I think we should check it out." Kagome replied, picking up bottles. "Come on. We'll leave these at the Inn."  
  
Shippo nodded and dragged the two bottles he had managed to get full along behind him. Once they had arrived to the Inn, and secured the water in the special bag Kagome carried for them, they set out towards the area Shippo could feel the strange presences coming from.  
  
Kagome only hoped...that it wasn't anything too serious.  
  
She wasn't the strongest of their little team...everyone could see that...but she was more of a back up weapon...Like an emergency item. When Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Kirara could not fight another minute, Kagome stepped in with the bow and an arrow and shot their opponent's head off. Yep...that's usually how it worked.  
  
After a while of walking, and Shippo's constant chatter from her shoulder...she and her little kitsune arrived to the scene of what had attracted their attention.  
  
Kagome couldn't help but gasp.  
  
An army of dragons, many plain soul stealers, and eight unique dragons, fought before her in a ferocious battle. Kagome figured in an instant that the soul stealers were Kikyo's, considering she was the only one she had ever seen with them in her presence. The other eight however, she had never laid on eyes on before.  
  
Well...that wasn't entirely true. Seven of them she had never seen before.  
  
Kazu she recognized.  
  
Which only meant that Kojika was in the area, and had somehow managed to create seven more dragons to battle with Kikyo's.  
  
That...and the fact that these new dragons were kicking the hell out of the others. She witnessed a blue one jump up and slap one of the soul stealers with it's fin like tail, and a yellow one with green stripes open it's mouth and send what was familiar to an electric shock towards another. A green one continually threw seeds on it's opponent, in which tiny life sucking plants sprouted and bloomed with the use of the blood, and a lavender one flapped it's wings to destroy bits and pieces of the other.  
  
Kazu constantly shot fire balls from his mouth at his opponents, and some times grabbed them from his mouth and tossed it around a bit should one of his partners become over powered. The most interesting, was a certain black scaled dragon, that would fly into a tree and disappear, and then pop out cleanly from another behind those following him and bite them, causing them to shrivel and disintegrate. Kagome's first impression of this one was that it held extremely poisonous fangs.  
  
Kagome took a good look around, hoping to perhaps find the dragon and miko here at the scene, for the jewel allowed her to sense them now that she was so close.  
  
She found them instantly with a loud crack and fall of a tall tree a little distance from where she and Shippo stood. Kikyo had produced her bow and was now positioning another arrow to shoot, while Kojika spent her time vanishing a re-appearing to confuse the miko. A good strategy, except that Kikyo had been born with demonic senses, capable of locating Kojika where ever she decided to turn up.  
  
She almost snipped off an arm when Kojika appeared in front of a rather large boulder.  
  
Kagome wanted to shout to them, to inform them that she was there and that she would help Kojika any time she wanted, when she heard the swift rumble of leaves and branches behind her.  
  
She turned around so fast she nearly fell over, but it was only Inuyasha.  
  
"What's going on?" He asked, sniffing the air. "There's a strong smell of dragons here."  
  
"Kojika's fighting Kikyo." Kagome replied with a sick feeling in her stomach. She already had an idea of how Inuyasha would react upon finding his old love in a battle with his old mentor.  
  
"What?!" He asked, fighting to keep his voice down so he wouldn't be heard. Kirara jumped in from behind him and landed on his shoulder, mewing as if asking the same question Inuyasha had a moment ago.  
  
"Look for yourself." She told him, pointing to the feud of mini-dragons and then to the main fight behind them.  
  
By now, Kojika had popped up behind Kikyo and stolen her quiver of arrows, just to re-appear in a tree to leave them dangling from a high off branch. Kikyo made a signal with her hand, that caused one of her dragons to fly up to the tree in an attempt to retrieve the stolen weapons, when Kazu jumped up and bit it in the neck.  
  
"Why are they fighting?" He asked, suddenly becoming red in the face. Kagome figured he would become angry any minute now, march out between the fighters with out even thinking, and pluck both girls away from each other so they couldn't kill each other.  
  
"That's what I was about to ask?" came the monk's familiar voice from behind Inuyasha. Miroku and Sango, fully prepared for battle stepped in, nodding to the two.  
  
"I'm not sure." Kagome answered. "When I got here, they had already started."  
  
"Well we have to stop them!" Shouted Inuyasha, preparing to run out between. Didn't Kagome know him so well?  
  
But a voice that echoed in their heads all at once stopped them.  
  
"Don't bother to intrude Inuyasha. This is no real battle. I am simply testing Kikyo out, the same way she is testing me. Stand on the side and watch."  
  
When they managed to glimpse the dragons face, they could see the mischief in her eyes. Only problem was, Kikyo was beginning to become annoyed with the dragons leaping and vanishing, and had now sent two dragons to pluck her back her arrows. This time, she succeeded, and strung an arrow back around the same time Kagome felt her jewel shard give off another twang.  
  
So it wasn't either of them...but then...who was causing the jewel to radiate like this.  
  
Kojika reappeared before a tree. She smiled to Kikyo, presenting her playfulness, but in a matter of minutes, that expression melted.  
  
In a flash, Kojika had turned her head in an adjacent area to the battle, and was now displaying a form of shock and surprise, not usual for the dragon's cool and calm manner.  
  
"What's wrong with Kojika?" asked Inuyasha, his hand zipping to the hilt of his trusted Tetsusaiga.  
  
"I don't know." Kagome replied, balling her hands into tight fists.  
  
Something wasn't right here...There was another presence...another something that was in the area...Something so powerful it was beginning to make even Kojika nervous.  
  
But who...  
  
*So...did I leave you in suspense? Do you really want to know what happens...and who it is that's distracting Kojika. Well...I'll warn you...the next chapter is kind of sad...I already have some of it planned out in my head. Please be patient for my next chapter...for I may not have a lot of time to write it an update. Thank you for reading my story! Catse2000 is out for now! Send me e-mails on what you think of the story...and I'll do my best to bring the next chapters up. I still have many things coming up...and yes...there will be a huge finishing battle scene at the end of the story...but only I know who will be fighting who...and who will be the casualties. So read on...and enjoy!* 


	27. A Dragon Dies

*Yay! Another chapter done. In the past four days, I've gone into overdrive, and have wrote a total four and a half chapters for you all to read! Aren't I nice! Not really. Anyways...I just all of a sudden got this huge inspiration to write, and have already written down the entire ending on paper. Now I only have to write it into chapters! Enjoy!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but if I did I would have them walk with me to school so that no one would want to mess with me! ^_~!  
  
Chapter 27  
  
The arrow hit her before she even realized that it was coming. Kagome couldn't hold her shout in, and Inuyasha was out and ready with the Tetsusaiga before Miroku could hold him back and Sango could react. She leaned against the tree, a strange expression on her face...as if nothing mattered anymore...as if life had ended...  
  
This was not at all usual for Kojika... But the odd part...was that the arrow hadn't pierced her skin...but that of her most loyal servant...  
  
Kazu was beginning to bleed from the wound...and his small glorious gold eyes wide in shock...but glad with the fact that he had saved his master from death. His glistening red serpent like body relaxed, and quickly became limp when he fell to the ground. Death had taken him quickly. Kikyo's arrow sat stuck with in his small chest, and his little claws relaxed against it, one small bloody tear falling from his eyes. Then, a small soul stealing dragon flew down and collected his soul, flying back up towards Kikyo.  
  
Kojika dropped to the ground in surprise...She was shaking...and her eyes were wide in shock....Kazu...was no more.  
  
Apparently, all of the dragons were linked to Kazu's spirit, and when he died, they all evaporated like mist to the wind. All except one, whom flew up out of a tree he had been hiding in to take a closer look at the fallen comrade. Moru apparently, was his own dragon, and did not belong to Kazu...but to Kojika directly.  
  
"Oops... Kikyo dear...you were supposed to hit the Dragon Miko...not her miniature follower." Laughed a thick cold voice from the wood. There was a rustling heard from the trees, and the cold wind picked up pace. A man that looked of middle age, with the darkest short red hair that had ever been seen, and long flowing royal blue robes with the image of the many dragon elders upon them. He carried many thick batches of gold and silver necklaces around his neck, and a black cape draped around his back softly. His eyes were black and cold, and his smile would have been warm had it not looked full of malice.  
  
"My Kojika...it's been quite a while." The man stepped up to Kikyo's side, and gave the Draymon a wink.  
  
Kojika glared at the Elder, a look of resentment and anguish in the pure face, and with a growl, she stood up and balled her hands into fists.  
  
"Mikoto...How dare you...!?" She snarled, closing her eyes as if to stop the many tears from falling. Maru noticed his master's anguish and floated up, chirping softly in her ear as if to try and sooth her.  
  
She ignored him, and raised her hand up to produce a fire ball...  
  
Kagome, while on the side, watched as the poor little fire dragon had fallen and died, and she witnessed the look of battle in Kojika's stance, the readiness to kill that had never been there before. Kojika had really loved that little dragon, even as it was her bit of creation...and she would miss it dearly.  
  
But there was something else that had also caught Kagome's attention. Why was it that Kikyo was fighting with Kojika in the first place and why was it that this Elder was talking with the miko as if she worked for him...unless...she did.  
  
Was it possible that Kikyo did work for the Elder...If so...why?  
  
What did she have to gain from this sort of thing? This alliance?  
  
But strangely...as though sent in images through telepathy...Kagome began to piece it all together.  
  
The wound that Inuyasha had on his side when Yakume and Rieko had attacked...  
  
The unwillingness of both of them to give any more details than the fact that they were ambushed...  
  
Kojika's jumpy attitude this very evening...as everyone left the room to pursue their own little activities...  
  
She saw the picture clearly, and with out thinking, pulled out her bow and strung an arrow...somehow drawing on the small shards of Shikon she had, and adding it to the immense spiritual power she was gathering in the head of her weapon...  
  
She was planning to shoot Kikyo for her crimes...  
  
It is very apparent...that through the past Kikyo has tried to capture Inuyasha and to take him to Hell with her...  
  
She has tried many things...Trapping him in a deep sleep to take him with out a fight... following him and then just showing up out of nowhere to chat with him...and even giving Naraku the jewel so that Inuyasha might not have a willful chance of beating him...  
  
Kikyo was a cruel miko...and was no longer pure by Kojika's ideas.  
  
Kikyo...deserved to remain the walking dead...  
  
But of course...the miko knew when she was being targeted, and looked at Kagome with the same sad expression she always had.  
  
"Do you plan on shooting me Kagome?" She asked softly, her dragons dancing around her. The one with Kazu's spirit dropped down and left it's little gift in her hand...and she loosed it with in her body calmly.  
  
"Let Kazu out!" Kagome shouted, stretching the arrow farther back. She was also beginning to lose control.  
  
"I don't think so." Kikyo smirked malevolently, and pulled her own bow forward, prepared to string and shoot her arrow when ever she felt truly threatened.  
  
"Did you shoot Inuyasha's side when Yakume and Reiko attacked!?" Kagome replied, accumulating a vast ball of spiritual power in the head of her arrow now. It was good, that because of her training with the Shikon, she could now hide her own energy from other miko's as well as the Shikon's.  
  
Everyone around her heard the question, and turned to look at Kikyo, and then to Inuyasha. Inuyasha's surprise was quite evident, and he kept trying to shake his head, but his companions already knew that Kikyo had been involved in the attack.  
  
"Perhaps I did." Kikyo replied, pulling out an arrow from her thin quiver. "Yes...I tried to kill Inuyasha. That was my part in the mission."  
  
"Explain the mission!" Kagome shouted back, fighting to keep her tired arm from letting go of the string.  
  
"Fine. Mikoto the Dragon Elder came to me one afternoon, as I was tending to some fallen samurai, and asked me if I would like to take Inuyasha to Hell with me without his fuss. I asked him what he had in mind. He told me, that I and the two dragon's Reiko and Yakume should keep a close eye on Kojika and Inuyasha. Then, when they were alone, we would pounce. My duty was to get rid of Inuyasha, and by that I mean to take him to the afterlife by my side. Then, Kojika would be left alone, and the dragons would kill her off. Unfortunately, Kojika there saw it coming, and was able to pull out the arrow in which struck Inuyasha on the side. It was meant to be a fatal wound. Then she forced Inuyasha to leave so that they might fight with her alone. I tried to follow him, but then Mikoto found me and told me of another idea. To let his dragons take care of the mess and to get Inuyasha for me. He insisted that you, Kagome, were becoming a nuisance, and that you would surely kill me. But I don't see how. You're nothing but a pathetic weakling. Inuyasha was an idiot to think my reincarnation was anything like me."  
  
Kikyo smirked and glanced in Inuyasha's direction, in which the sweat was visible on his face. Everyone understood now why he hadn't spoken up. He didn't want to worry them with Kikyo coming after them as well as everyone.  
  
And then again, they were also amazed at how Kagome had managed to understand this fact so perfectly. They began to wonder how she was capable of putting all of that together like that. But when they happened to look in the young miko's direction, they were surprised to find that her cheeks were bright red with anger and embarrassment and that her rage was beginning to reach it's peak.  
  
Kagome was scary when she was mad.  
  
Her eyes were clear, and her arm muscles were beginning to pulse with the raging pumping blood in her body. Her teeth were grit and her brows were furrowed.  
  
Kagome only gave Kikyo a second to bring up her arrow, before firing hers, and leaving it lit so bright by her bluish light that it left a trail behind it like a comet in the sky.  
  
Kikyo could not move...she could not get out of the way...  
  
It struck her full and hard in the chest...and she fell back...cracking like clay as she landed...considering her body was only hardened ashes and soil and leaves.  
  
She hadn't been completely destroyed of course...only her head and her legs and arms remained...but her full body was gone.  
  
Mikoto, who had spent this whole time discussing how he would kill Kojika with the very person he was talking about, gave one glance in the older miko's direction. He noticed how beaten she was...how she had a crack slimly finding it's way up her cheek...and how her eyes seemed so desolate.  
  
He smiled, and with a snap of his fingers, the pieces of her body remolded and reshaped...until the miko was standing, fully clothed, before them again.  
  
Kagome and her friends stared wide-eyed at the clay statue, and how she was completely moveable again, and nothing was out of place. Even the tiny delicate cracks in her frame seemed to have evened out and dispersed.  
  
Kagome could barely even make a sound she was so surprised.  
  
Kikyo glanced her direction, and smiled, giving off a sinister glare that found it's way to everyone's eyes.  
  
Mikoto nodded, and turned around, walking towards Kojika fearlessly.  
  
For the moment, everyone watched the elder, even though they were still shock of Kikyo's reparal, because...for some reason...he seemed to be more amusing.  
  
The Elder Mikoto, stepped up to a flaring Kojika, in which she jumped away with the tree at her back. Then, with out cause of even realization of what was happening, the Elder swept out one swift hand and caught her chin in his grasp. And, with just as much speed and force, her crushed his lips against hers, and stole a kiss. Kojika's eyes flared wide....her fireball grew larger...her hair began to toss around her as her energy built up...All in the middle of a kiss...  
  
Then...just as if he had never been there...he stepped away, waved, and vanished in thin air. Kikyo did the same...  
  
There was a simple voice left behind...as if the trees themselves were talking...  
  
"Our fight is soon my lovely...And then...we shall decide whom of us is the true ruler of the Dragons."  
  
Kagura, Naraku's servant had been watching the action at a distance, hiding behind a tree. She noticed how shaken the dragon demon got when this Mikoto fellow was around, and saw that Inuyasha and the others did not have the power or strength to be able to fight him alone. This would please Naraku greatly, thought Kagura...scheming in her mind how this would work for her.  
  
Maybe Inuyasha and this dragon that had beaten her so easily, could get rid of Naraku for good. Of course, she would not mention a word to anyone, lest her conniving little sister creation show Naraku what she was thinking.  
  
Kagura smirked.  
  
Now that she knew that Mikoto was a danger to the group, she finally had something to tell Naraku. She could finally stop following these people around.  
  
She might finally get a little peace and time to herself now.  
  
With that thought in mind, she pulled a feather from her hair and flew off into the night.  
  
*What do you think? Did I finally end the cliffy? Good. I hope you like it, because the next chapters should be pretty good. I know I had fun writing them!* 


	28. A Proposition and a Fight

*Hey! It's me again. What do you know, I have another chapter! I hope you enjoy this one because this is the beginning of a long set of linkage chapters. I should know...I'm almost done writing them!*  
  
Disclaimer: Inuyasha and co. do not belong to me, but if they did I'd have them pound my little brother for being so annoying!  
  
Chapter 28  
  
Naraku stood calmly in the soft midday air. He had been standing her only a moment, but already he could see the dragon demon coming up over the hill.  
  
Kagura had come to him, only the night before, and informed him of a hanyou demon much like himself, with a lot of power, that might want to work with him in order to get to the Dragon Miko with Inuyasha.  
  
Naraku figured, that with this kind of alliance and that of Kikyo working for this Mikoto, he might have a powerful force to take down the group of angry wanderers after him.  
  
Should he group with Mikoto the Elder of dragons, then not only would he have the power, but an entire army of dragon demons at his disposal should anything happen to the obnoxious Elder.  
  
Naraku...couldn't help but grin by this thought.  
  
A minute later, the man he wanted to meet arrived, looking a bit annoyed.  
  
"Would you be the Naraku fellow I'm seeking?" asked the Elder, sitting upon a strange floating cloud, that was apparently his ride. It was pink, and floated about two feet off the ground, while the Elder sat Indian style on top, a bag of what Naraku derived to be beans sitting in his lap. He also wore a grand emerald Dragon's Eye around his neck, hung on a golden chain.  
  
"Yes. And you are Mikoto the Dragon Elder."  
  
"I am." Replied Mikoto, crossing his arms. "What is this about?"  
  
"Have you heard of the Shikon no Tama?" asked Naraku, already knowing the answer, but using it anyway to start conversation.  
  
"Yes...I have. It is a miko made jewel with the strength of over a hundred demons with in it's glassy walls. Why do you ask?" Mikoto replied, glaring at Naraku with simple dark green eyes.  
  
"I have a rather large piece of it." Replied Naraku, showing him the jewel from under the baboon pelt he wore.  
  
"I see. And you plan to give it to me should I help you right?" Mikoto asked, returning his glare back to Naraku's hidden face.  
  
"Yes. Very observant of you. I ask that we create an alliance. From what I know, you want Kojika's head. Yes?"  
  
Mikoto nodded.  
  
"Well...I want the hanyou traveling with her...Inuyasha, for he has troubled me in the past."  
  
"Ah yes...Kikyo is after him as well. He must be a rather popular person to have so many trying to kill him."  
  
"It seems so. His miko friend Kagome also has a few of the Shikon Shards I'm sure you would want to have."  
  
"Really? I did not sense any with her?" Mikoto inquired, rubbing his chin inquisitively.  
  
"Well...so far...she may have learned to hide their energy. Miko's can do that you know...those that practice." Naraku informed, stepping closer. "I need you're allies and you need my insight to their little group. So what do you say...shall we join together against them?"  
  
Mikoto sat quietly for a moment, rubbing his chin as if there were a beard there, then, he nodded and took the jewel from Naraku's hand as he offered it.  
  
"Certainly." He whispered to Naraku as they began their conversation on how to get at the group one by one.  
  
The next day, they left the village Inn for the night in pursuit of home, to perhaps prepare for a battle they knew was on the way.  
  
No one talked really...not Inuyasha...not Kagome...most certainly not Kojika...  
  
The only sound for the entire group was that of trees swaying in a soft cool breeze or of little brooks sparkling in the warm sunny day.  
  
Their reason for heading home was thus: Kojika informed them, that during the kiss, Mikoto had told her that they would attack sometime in the next four days...but when would not really be known. There would be an all out battle...and the last living...would be the true ruler. For this, they were heading home to collect on equipment, to train, and to let Kagome go home and stay there while such battles commenced (Inuyasha was not going to leave his old mentor to fight alone, and Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Shippo agreed that they would help too).  
  
Kagome of course did not agree to this little plan, of making her stay home and such when everyone might need her help, and she and Inuyasha had argued about it profusely.  
  
Even now, Kagome and Inuyasha still hadn't resolved it, but everyone got tired of listening to them and threatened to throw them over a cliff if they did not shut their pie holes.  
  
Finally, around mid-day with the use of a few new abilities of Kojika's, concerning the teleportation of more than just one person over vast distance, the group made it home. When there, Inuyasha dragged Kagome to the well.  
  
"Don't fuss with me Kagome! This is the best way to keep you safe!" Inuyasha shouted back, dragging a kicking Kagome towards the well.  
  
"I would rather die than leave you guys to fight that THING! Let me GO!" she continued to shout, trying to grab anything on the ground that would help her to slow him down.  
  
Inuyasha was too strong for that though.  
  
They managed to make it to the well around evening.  
  
Inuyasha dropped Kagome gently by the well, a little odd for the red angry face he was displaying and stepped away.  
  
"Now...Go." He told her simply.  
  
"No." She replied in the same fashion, crossing her arms.  
  
"Don't argue. Go."  
  
"Don't tell me to go! I won't!" Kagome replied.  
  
Inuyasha rubbed his temples the way men do when they are exasperated past their limit and are ready to do something ridiculous.  
  
"Go or I'll throw you in." He replied.  
  
"No Inuyasha. I'm staying here. I can help you more than you think!"  
  
"And I'm sure you can. But I'm not about to let you get killed should things here get out of hand!"  
  
"Inuyasha." She mumbled softly, turning her face away from his glare. "I can't go. I can't just sit around in a safe place when I know you all will be fighting an enemy that loves to kill. I can't!"  
  
Inuyasha sighed and sat down before the miko, sniffing to make sure no one was around to watch them have their little fight.  
  
No one had followed them, not wanting to see another argument between miko and hanyou, which was good.  
  
"Kagome..." He whispered, grabbing her delicate chin and pulling it so that they could meet eye to eye. "I know how much you want to help here...but you'd really be helping us by not being in danger while we're fighting. Naraku has tried to kill you before, and he will most likely try it again during battle."  
  
"But we've searched so much...and now I have an understanding of the jewel that I never did before. Kojika was supposed to teach me how to control the rest of the jewel, and use it to my advantage. I can't just leave like that!"  
  
"Kojika told me that she doesn't need to teach you anymore." Inuyasha replied, letting go of Kagome's chin. "She say's you mastered everything you needed to, and that you showed her that when you attacked Kikyo."  
  
"Yes...but she lived." Kagome whispered, thinking Inuyasha would get angry over the fact that she had tried to kill Kikyo like that. But the hanyou surprised her.  
  
"I no longer love her." He whispered, backing away from Kagome. "She is nothing but an old memory to me now."  
  
Kagome gasped her surprise.  
  
"But how...? Why...? She was the only thing you thought about ever since we had met!" she said, nearly shouting.  
  
"I know...but considering that she's been trying to kill you, and that she wants me to go to Hell with her...I've lost any love I had. She's nothing but an angry statuette of clay that can walk, and can no longer live or breathe. She is death itself...and I no longer want to be with her."  
  
"But...?" Kagome tried to continue...but Inuyasha cut her off.  
  
"If you're wondering how and why I came to think of her like this...you might as well say an ancient dragon knocked some sense into me." Whispered Inuyasha as he pointed to his head, leaning closer to her all the while.  
  
Kagome at first was shocked, but then, thinking about how Kojika had told her of how much Inuyasha truly cared, she began to understand how much they had learned from the wisdom of the Dragon's words.  
  
She smiled, and leaned towards Inuyasha, ready to ask a silly question, and hoping he wouldn't laugh.  
  
"So who do you love now?" she asked, watching Inuyasha calmly.  
  
He smiled, and with out thinking, reached out and wrapped Kagome in a tight embrace.  
  
"Isn't it obvious Kagome? You're the one I'm trying to protect." He squeezed her tighter to him, and then, upon the right feeling, he pulled away and kissed her softly on the lips.  
  
Kagome didn't complain...nor did she try to push him off. Instead, she gladly wrapped her arms around his neck and welcomed his warm kiss, enjoying it as if it were candy.  
  
Even when their kiss was over, they continued to hug, and it took every ounce of Inuyasha's self-control, to steal the shards from her skirt pocket, and to pick her up, just to drop her softly into the portal of the well...with her shouting at him angrily.  
  
It wasn't like Kagome was hurt to bad when she came out of the other side with out her shards. She knew Inuyasha too well by now, and understood that he really just wanted to keep her safe from harm.  
  
That...and the kiss had been so real and warm and loving...so wonderful. With out realizing it, Kagome lifted her fingers to her lips to feel them over softly.  
  
That had been her first kiss ever...and she was glad that it had been from the one man she loved.  
  
Also...there was something Inuyasha didn't know...and that was that she kept a spare shard in her room just in case he ever tried to do that again. She smiled and ran off to her room, happily thinking of their kiss the whole way up.  
  
*So...how was the chapter? I know...I know...a little mushy...but hey...I'm sure a lot of the readers reading this are finding what they're looking for. I just really love Inuyasha and Kagome love scenes! I think they're very romantic! (Yeah right! Like I'm even a romantic!) Oh well...there are more chapters coming. To tell you the truth, the whole story is a total of about 104 pages on Word. I know. It surprised me a lot when I noticed the amount at the bottom of the screen!* 


	29. A Plan Set into Motion

*Hello! It's another chapter! Don't you just love it? Anyways, the next chapters to come are going to be a little piecy, and you may get a little confused. The story is going to constantly shift from place to place! Anyways, I hope you enjoy them!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inu and co. but if I dream hard enough maybe I'll start believing I do. Then I would be majorly schizophrenic!  
  
Chapter 29  
  
Inuyasha sighed and stepped away from the well...noticing from the scent in the air that someone had just arrived and was behind him.  
  
Upon turning around, he found Kikyo standing there, a look of pain on her face as he soul stealing dragon's danced around her gracefully.  
  
"So you love her eh? Not me?" she whispered sadly...stepping back.  
  
Inuyasha glared at her and replied in his own soft voice: "Yes...I love her now. You no longer remain on my mind."  
  
Kikyo frowned deeply and stepped away, seeming to beckon Inuyasha after her.  
  
"Come Inuyasha...kill me then...so that you may remain with your little miko!"  
  
"Surely Kikyo. If that's what you want and if that will give you a free sense of mind." Inuyasha replied, following the miko off into the woods.  
  
He could smell the scent of his enemy over all of the masterful perfume they had used. Although the scent was weak through the flowery one, he could tell this was a trick.  
  
He'd been fooled too many times to allow this fake Kikyo to trick him into loving her, and he figured that a large battle would commence when it had stopped and chosen a place to attack. Inuyasha also kept a good eye on his surroundings, just in case it was planning an ambush.  
  
There was only one reason why he was allowing it to try to fool them as they left, and that was that he didn't want it to destroy the well so that he could never see Kagome again. That and should the imposter accidentally fall in and find Kagome on the other side, then his miko would be in trouble. He wanted to keep Kagome as safe as possible, even if she found her way back.  
  
What he didn't know, was that as he followed the fake Kikyo, a group of Naraku's wasp like insects crept in and filled the well up, to ensure she would be poisoned should she try to return through her gate.  
  
Kikyo had informed Naraku and Mikoto that that was Kagome's traveling portal, and that to prevent her from coming, would allow all of them to get what they wanted with out nuisances.  
  
Meanwhile, a sweating wolf-demon was running joyously through the woods, ready to meet his beloved miko when he got to Kaede's village. He had been gone quite a while, and had checked on his pack quite thoroughly. They were all fine of course, and after a little investigating of his grounds, left to return to his love.  
  
He knew that Kagome didn't want him...and that she had no care for him whatsoever...but he planned on changing that. He planned on making her love him, no matter what, so that he had his shard detector and his wife.  
  
Then, as he ran, he began to think of what kind of puppies she would make, and how she would prepare the meat he hunted down, and how she would look in one of their fur loin clothes.  
  
Kouga smiled at the thought of Kagome wearing a skimpy little fur clothe of a skirt...something a little shorter than that strange little green one she wore. Yeah...that would be interesting.  
  
The only reason he knew Kagome and that stupid mutt would be at Kaede's, because he couldn't find them in the other location, and their scent was strong.  
  
Of course, he had lost them a while back, considering their scent just vanished into thin air, but he figured they would be at the village.  
  
Upon whim, he hoped that they were at the village, and not kidnapped by some other powerfully blooded demon that seemed to always know where to find them.  
  
How would Kagome react upon finding him just showing up at the village, with a large grin on his face and maybe a bouquet of daisies or cherry blossoms or something.  
  
He hoped she would be happy and greet him warmly, but he doubted it.  
  
That stupid mutt would get in the way and another fight would occur. Hopefully, Kagome might let him kill the mutt and be done with it, and then be his mate for life.  
  
Yeah right! Kouga thought. Those two are so into each other, I truly doubt she'll even so much as pay me any attention. That and the prayer beads were still on his neck, and he really did not like being Downed.  
  
It sucked!  
  
Now he knew how Inuyasha felt when she Sat him.  
  
He just wished that she hadn't given him this set of prayer beads.  
  
Kouga was so caught up in thought, he didn't even notice that the wind had picked up and that a lone figure was standing in his way.  
  
She had already shrunken her flight and stuck it back in her pinned black hair, and her kimono was the same multiple bits that she always liked to overlap together as she always did.  
  
Kagura brought her fan out with a smirk, and waited for the wolf to come into distance, so that she might slice his head off.  
  
Unfortunately for her, the wolf didn't even notice she was standing there.  
  
It took a strong gust from a swish of her delicate fan to knock him over, in order for him to realize that he was not alone in this area of the forest.  
  
"Kagura! What the Hell are you doing here!?" Kouga shouted from the ground, jumping back up angrily.  
  
"I came to talk to you Kouga." She replied, sneering.  
  
"About what?" He asked, watching her closely. Kouga began to sniff around vigorously from his prepared stance to ensure she was the only one he had to fight.  
  
"About your death." She replied with a cold voice, before taking a sharp swipe with her fan. It caused a dangerous shred of wind, that would have cut off Kouga's feet had he not jumped in time.  
  
"Then bring it on. I'll kill you, and then I'll kill your boss Naraku!" Shouted Kouga.  
  
The wolf demon, and Naraku's minion began a fight...to the death.  
  
During Inuyasha and Kikyo's meeting, and Kouga's and Kagura's battle, Kaede's village received word of another village nearby being attacked by demons.  
  
Naturally, Sango could not leave them to fight alone, and she, Miroku, and Kirara all left off to fight the demons. When they arrived there, they found an army of lower life demons with life-less bodies stuck sickly to their claws, and blood on their shells and fur. Leading them, where four young Dragons, which only lead to the belief, that Mikoto had sent them.  
  
The small group had had quite a fight, and once the various other demons had been slain and diced, the dragons attacked them. Sango and the others, had no choice but to fight.  
  
There really isn't too much to explain for this area, considering the four dragons they were fighting did not talk or mock them, they just fought, and were apparently the weakest of their people.  
  
But they were a known group to their people, calling themselves the dragons of element. Each had one of the four elements of life. Wind, Fire, Water, and Earth.  
  
And they fought ferociously.  
  
Sango had had to take on the Wind and Fire, while Miroku fought the Earth one and Kirara fought with the Water, making sure to keep her fiery claws and tail out of way of being put out by the wet attacks thrown.  
  
Their battle continued for a while.  
  
Likewise, to the many battles beginning over this small area of Feudal Japan, Shippo, lonely as he walked to the well in search for his foster mother Kagome, also met his own battle.  
  
She was in the form of Naraku's other minion Kanna, whom by this time was sent to stand before the well just in case Kagome should come out and happen to destroy the bees covering her portal.  
  
Shippo, believing himself as strong as everyone else around him, began his own battle with the tiny girl: he using fox fire, and she using her mirror to try and collect his soul. As they fought, they managed to wander away from the well, and from any help that could possibly be brought to them.  
  
Shippo by now had watched many battles that Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku had conducted, and had picked up on many of their techniques, deciding to use them now in this fight.  
  
Kanna of course, was no simple opponent, and proved quite dangerous when pushed to the test.  
  
The young one's battle continued from there for a while.  
  
Kojika, wandering around the forest on the feeling that some one she knew was nearby, left the village in pursuit of it.  
  
She hadn't found much, except for a good clean day and a sweet little stream a good distance from the village.  
  
Then, while she was getting a drink, a total of five young dragons, some of the best of the Draymon warriors, attacked her, trying to shoot her with an array of arrows and weapons. She was left to fight with them, all the while sensing that Mikoto was watching her, and that he was waiting for an opportunity to kill her. She also suspected that he and Naraku were working together upon the observation that everyone was strangely missing. Kojika was no idiot, and she knew that Naraku's way's involved playing unfairly.  
  
Naraku and Mikoto's reasoning for these many set up battles was thus: don't let the warriors fight together. Naraku had so many enemies, they would, no doubt gang up on him and kill him quite easily. Separate them by giving them each a difficult opponent, then kill them off one by one. Mikoto had been the one to send the four dragon demons to the nearby village to lead the demon exterminator, her pet, and the lecherous monk away from the village.  
  
Kagome by this time, would be down the well, because by no doubt, Inuyasha would try to keep her safe. Bees would keep her hidden, and, just in case she managed to thwart the bees, Kanna would be there to steal her soul and what ever shards of Shikon she would have.  
  
If Kanna did not succeed, the real Kikyo would be waiting a little off in the forest, watching the well at the same time.  
  
Naraku, dressed up as Kikyo, would lead Inuyasha away to kill him by using what made the hanyou emotional against him.  
  
Kouga, as they figured was already on his way, would have Kagura to fight.  
  
The reason these two were matched to battle against each other, was because Kouga used wind as his main attack, and Kagura controlled the wind as her servant.  
  
It would be a difficult battle, in which both of them would most likely be killed.  
  
A thing that Naraku wanted, for he became greatly annoyed by the wind witches state of mind, and the fact that she constantly searched for a way to kill him.  
  
Then, Kojika, would be put against five other Draymon's such as herself, and Mikoto would meet her should she survive the encounter.  
  
Naraku and Mikoto would kill them off, but what Mikoto did not know, was that the huge bulge of jewel given to him was fake, and that Naraku held the real one. In fact, the face ball of shikon was a poison, similar to the one given to Kouga when his comrades had been slaughtered by Kagura. Should he choose to use it in a time where he was loosing, it would attach itself under his skin and poison him, killing him slowly.  
  
Naraku did not plan on letting Mikoto keep the jewel! He was going to kill off that cocky Elderly Demon and get the jewel for himself.  
  
But of course, what Naraku suspected, and what was truly happening, was that Mikoto suspected the jewel was a fake, and planned on killing Naraku to prevent another powerful being like Kojika from coming into existence.  
  
Naraku had not even a tenth of the power the Elder possessed, and he wasn't about to let him get anymore than he already had.  
  
Both allies had different ways planned to kill the other...they just had no idea when they would be able to put their fantasies into reality.  
  
*So how was it? Please people! I need reviews! Tell me what you think so I can stop wondering! I'm sad I know.* 


	30. The War Begins

*Hey peoples! I'm back! This is the last chapter I have so far, but I promise I will update! And soon too! I can't believe I'm actually updating sooner than a month! Send me reviews to keep me going on a regular schedule for the short time I'm off on Spring Break!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but if Rumiko Takahashi gives them to me I can find many different uses for them! ^_~!  
  
Chapter 30  
  
Kagome had just barely made it into the room and found her shikon shard, when she got the creeping feeling one does when they something is going terribly wrong in another area of the world or of time.  
  
This one involved Inuyasha, and she had an idea that he had already met up with Naraku and was fighting him at this very moment. Of course, she had begun to leave the room, except for the fact that she had noticed something highly unusual from out her window.  
  
She was too curious to leave it behind, so she glanced out the window before going downstairs.  
  
Things looked normal for a second, and then she noticed what had caught her attention.  
  
A young teenage girl, probably around her age, came running out of the well house, wearing nothing but black T-shirts with Rock bands on them, black jeans, and heavy army boots.  
  
She had her short hair pinned back in a pony tail, and dangerous brown eyes that glittered from under thin black eye-brows. In general, the girl looked about as normal as any girl running around the streets, but it was something more about the way she was running, and the sort of image or impression she left on Kagome's mind.  
  
That...and she was running from the well house.  
  
Kagome tried to call out to her, to find out what she was doing...but she couldn't. In this moment, it was like her tongue went limp and her lips sealed shut.  
  
The girl looked up at her in the last moment, as if she knew how hard it was for Kagome to speak, and smiled, giving her a simple wave before vanishing around the side of Kagome's house.  
  
Kagome of course ran down and out of the house immediately, but could no longer find any sign of the strange girl.  
  
She hadn't recognized her face or anything to know why she was there, and she most definitely did not seem to be a girl at her school, considering most of them wore skirts in their free time.  
  
Kagome sighed and walked into the well house, looking around.  
  
There wasn't any graffiti or the like, to show that she was trying to vandalize it, and there most definitely wasn't any trash or undesirable items in the well or around it.  
  
Perhaps she was just curious and had wanted to see the inside of the well house or something.  
  
Kagome shrugged and stepped up to the well, sticking her lone shard in her pocket before jumping.  
  
She wasn't surprised to land in the well and find that the same velvety portal opened up and welcomed her through.  
  
She was however, astonished, at the many dead insect bodies that littered the inside of the well.  
  
All of them, were Naraku's.  
  
In this case, she immediately began searching around for anyone she knew...perhaps hurt or beaten up.  
  
No one was around of course...nothing but a graveyard for insects.  
  
She climbed out of the well, curious to how the dead bees had arrived, and began to search the trees around for evidence of a battle.  
  
She only found one arrow aimed at her head from a distance.  
  
An arrow from a dead miko.  
  
"Kikyo! What's happened here?" Kagome asked, sticking her hand in her pocket to hold her shard. She wanted to ensure that no one was trying to sneak in a steal it while she was preoccupied by the miko of death.  
  
"Nothing has happened here yet. But there will soon be a miko's blood strewn across that well and her bones tossed in for it to eat." (Consider that the well was called the Bone Eater's well in the beginning.)  
  
"Kikyo! Where is Inuyasha?" Kagome asked with out fear of the dead miko shooting her. She had earned a new sense of bravery ever since she had met Inuyasha and begun traveling with him. Were this in the beginning, she would most likely be cowering before a tree at this moment.  
  
"Naraku is fighting him." Kikyo replied, pulling her arrow farther back. "But you shouldn't be worried about him. I'm your opponent and I decide whether you see him later!" She smirked, and let her arrow fly, hitting her target with a loud pang.  
  
During the little meeting with Kagome and Kikyo, Inuyasha and the fake miko had spent only a few minutes talking.  
  
Inuyasha already knew that this fake Kikyo was Naraku, trying to fool him again, but by now, he had fought far too many adversaries to allow himself to be tricked so easily any more.  
  
Naraku had gotten him once, fooled him so bad that it had caused him to hate Kikyo and then betray her, causing him to be pinned to the god tree.  
  
Now...he was wiser, stronger, and far more prepared for the future than the first time he had encountered this sneaky hanyou before him.  
  
Now...he would play by his rules. Not Naraku's.  
  
"I no longer love you Kikyo. Get a clue!" Inuyasha replied, making Naraku believe that he was actually fooling him.  
  
"But Inuyasha! How could you!? How dare you take that little tramp over me?!" Naraku yelled, seeming so much like Kikyo as he shouted. Had Inuyasha still been in love with Kikyo, he would have been affected.  
  
"Kikyo! I am here to kill you, and that is what I must do. You're soul will return to Kagome's body, although I would prefer to kill Naraku first. Don't push me in a direction I don't want to go!" But Inuyasha knew how he was going to get Naraku to show himself. He had a little plan formed.  
  
"Inuyasha! I no longer care about Naraku, nor about the fact that he made us betray each other so long ago. I just want you to keep your promise and go to Hell with me!"  
  
Inuyasha hid a smile. He figured Naraku was taking the bait.  
  
"Fine. Come here Kikyo. If you want me to die with you, then I will. Just show me what you want me to do."  
  
Naraku stepped towards Inuyasha, still dressed as Kikyo, but he was wary of the hanyou's reactions. Inuyasha should have been hugging him a while back, but yet in insisted that Kikyo no longer mattered to him. Something was fishy here.  
  
"Inuyasha." He whispered, coming close with in range. Then, with out warning, the dog hanyou jumped forth and attacked him, nearly piercing his flesh in his attack.  
  
"What?" Naraku asked, stepping back. "What are you doing?" But he knew what Inuyasha would answer. He knew it all to well.  
  
"Trying to kill you Naraku. So sit still!" Inuyasha replied, flexing his claws as he sometimes did when he was eager to fight an opponent he knew he could beat.  
  
"Won't you attack me with the Tetsusaiga Inuyasha?" Naraku asked, revealing himself from his miko disguise.  
  
"Not yet. I want to test you out with just my claws."  
  
"Yah!" Shippo shouted, tossing another blue fox fire orb at Kanna, who simply side stepped in and threw out a bright white blast from her mirror.  
  
"You missed." She replied calmly as the fox landed on a fallen tree branch.  
  
"I won't this time!" He replied sending another.  
  
He missed.  
  
"You are truly a bad aim." She told him, side stepping another tossed at her.  
  
"No I'm not! You just don't sit still!" Shippo shouted, jumping up as another white blast came flying his way. "And it's not like you're very accurate yourself!"  
  
They were quiet for a while, each trying to hit the other from a distance using magical orbs and powerful lights.  
  
Finally, Kanna managed to pin him down with a paralyzing blast, and poor Shippo, could not move a muscle.  
  
"Hey! This isn't fair! You're not fighting fair!" Shippo shouted, trying his hardest to break from the seal that Kanna placed on him.  
  
"I don't fight fair." She whispered calmly, stepping up to him and shining her mirror over his face.  
  
Shippo gulped and prayed to his father that he wouldn't have to meet him sooner than he wanted to.  
  
Another mile or two from Shippo and Kanna, Kagura and Kouga's fight was becoming intense.  
  
Kagura proved a very formidable opponent when sent into a rage, and at the moment, that was where she was. Kouga didn't even realize he'd made her so angry. He just knew that she was sending him drafts of wind aimed at his head, and that he had to keep the utmost caution around her rice paper fan.  
  
"Die!" She shouted for the third time, sending him a sharp whirlwind that only missed Kouga's legs by an inch. He was constantly jumping about, trying to ensure that he remained in one piece so as to fight Naraku with all he had when he found him.  
  
Kagura on the other hand, seemed to be getting madder by the minute, simply because she'd been sent to fight such a stupid character and that he wouldn't sit still so that she could kill him. Kouga simply figured she was PMSing.  
  
"Come back here!" She shouted as he dogged another blow of wind.  
  
"No way!" Kouga replied, running in close to Naraku's lackey.  
  
She replied by nearly smacking him across the face with her fan.  
  
Then, when he dodged and ran off again, she began to cuss and throw more strings of wind.  
  
The full reason she was so very made though was because Naraku had earlier told her straight out, that she was his slave and would be forever. That he would never let her go unless he killed her himself.  
  
That, had left the wind sorceress in an extremely bad mood, and now she spent her time trying to slice this wolfs head off.  
  
Maybe she'd use the hair on it to form a poison or other to kill Naraku or something.  
  
While she was thinking, Kouga took his chance to race in close to her and land himself a hit on her side.  
  
Unfortunately, she caught this antic just in time and jumped out of the way, only getting her foot damaged by the wolfs dangerous kick.  
  
Their fight continued from there, hardly any conversation except to shout Die a multitude of other times and to continue trying to slice something off of him, be it head, arms, or legs.  
  
Miroku, Sango, and Kirara had just barely finished off their adversaries, having beaten them with a devastating fight.  
  
Sango had been stabbed in the leg, Miroku had been pierced in the air void in his hand some how when sucking up a giant boulder from the Earth Dragon, and Kirara had suffered a terrible blow to her side.  
  
To say the least, the group was tired and restless.  
  
They knew that there was another battle yet to fight, that of Naraku...and that he was nearby...one of the dragons had blurted out the plan while they were killing him, and had begged for mercy from the ancient Dragons of his people, the gods that watched over him from the heavens.  
  
They had tried to spare him, but because of his pleas and his explanation, one of the other dragons had killed him in cold blood, and left him dead on the battle field.  
  
Now...as it seemed that Naraku and Mikoto had formed quite a dangerous and bold plan, their little group had to return and inform Inuyasha of the entire thing. They were hoping, as well, that Kagome hadn't been found and poisoned by Naraku's bees, and that Kanna hadn't managed to steal her soul by now.  
  
Mikoto stood upon a simple cliff, jutting out of the forest near Kaede's village fearlessly. He had watched the commotion going on down ways...had seen how Kanna began fighting with the little fox called Shippo, and how Naraku hadn't managed to fool Inuyasha as he thought he could. He also noticed how a strange array of light had jumped out of the Bone Eater's well and how all of Naraku's bees had been killed. At least Kikyo had remained to kill her reincarnation.  
  
The only parts of the plan that seemed to be going right were Kagura vs. the wolf guy, and those other three people traveling with Inuyasha vs. his four dragons. As of the moment, he didn't know anything about Kojika and her ware-abouts, but he knew that she was most likely fighting her five dragons right now.  
  
How simple this plan was going.  
  
That...and he now had a huge chunk of what Naraku had insisted was the Shikon no Tama in his hands. He knew this ball was not the Shikon, that it was merely a fake crystal injected with a poison meant to kill his kind...The Draymon.  
  
He also knew that the real ball of Shikon was in Naraku's grasps, and the hanyou had planned on using it and what ever he could get from everyone else to kill off Inuyasha and his friends. Naraku would do the dirty work, and the only thing Mikoto had to do, was to sit back and watch.  
  
What a pleasure!  
  
As he thought about everything going on, he only just barely caught the presence of another in the area, and he cursed himself for not paying attention to the forest behind him.  
  
In fact, he had been so deep in thought and observation he hadn't even been listening to the environment behind him.  
  
He knew instantly who it was when they stepped out.  
  
"I didn't know you were such a stalker." He acknowledged with out turning around.  
  
The person behind him snickered, and stepped up, sticking one sharp finger nail in the back of his neck.  
  
"Neither did I." She replied with a smirk as she continued to stick her finger nail even deeper into his scalp.  
  
"I see you managed to take care of my dragons." Said Mikoto with a painful smile. He could feel the wet trickle of blood draining down the back of his neck.  
  
"Yes. The five you sent me, and that shady bunch you managed to hide in the trees north of here...Were they just in case Naraku didn't fulfill his mission, or were they there just to protect you're hide should I show up?" she asked, with a smile.  
  
"Ah Kojika. I should have known you would be so perceptive." The Elder replied, turning around with difficulty, causing Kojika to loose her hold on his neck. "You were always so intelligent when we first met. Why did it all have to change?"  
  
"Mikoto, you never win the girl when you kill off her father and take control of her kingdom. That...and when you exiled me from the people I knew, just because you were afraid of my miko half."  
  
"Yes...I'm sure you're right as always. I see you're father was smart in choosing that powerful miko Midoriko as your mother."  
  
Kojika smiled as she flexed her bloody claws before her.  
  
"You're right. He was quite intelligent in doing that. It was unfortunate though that my mother was trapped with in the Shikon no Tama everyone is so hungrily seeking."  
  
"Kojika." He mumbled softly.  
  
"Mikoto." She replied with a cold voice, not accepting the fact that this stupid wrongly made Dragon hanyou was trying to flirt with her over these many years of exile for her. He was such an idiot.  
  
Then, suddenly, as if he planned it, his arm jerked out and stuck a small round like crystal into her stomach, causing it to bleed heavily.  
  
Kojika knew that Mikoto the Elder was trying to poison her with a fake Shikon no Tama, and with a smirk as her belly healed up from one of her newest techniques, she reached out and grabbed him around the neck.  
  
"Let's get this fight started. Today Mikoto, we determine which one of us is the true ruler of the Draymon Empire."  
  
*What do you think? Yeah I know, these are all sort of cliffies, but I will try to wrap them all up in this next chapter! So send me reviews!* 


	31. The Death of Someone Close

*Hey peoples! Guess what!? It's another chapter! That...and this story is finished! I have it written up an everything! It spanned 34 chapters and an Epilogue! Go figure!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but if I did I would be pretty rich right now, with a mansion, a nice car, and...*still daydreaming*...Anyways, enjoy the story!*  
  
Chapter 31  
  
Kagome thanked her lucky stars that the arrow hadn't struck her, and for some reason, she knew that Kikyo had meant not to hit her.  
  
Instead, what her arrow had struck was one of Naraku's bees, now dead against the tree. In his beak, was the lone Shikon Shard that Kagome had had only a moment ago.  
  
Naraku had tried to steal her shard away from her.  
  
Kagome reached out and plucked the shard out of the bee's mouth, and returned it to her pocket.  
  
Of course, she thanked Kikyo for saving her, only to receive a very rude reply.  
  
"I only struck it because I didn't want Naraku to have any more of the jewel than he already has." Kikyo told her sternly, pulling out and stringing up another arrow to shoot Kagome with. "This one, is meant for you."  
  
Kagome's arm zipped up to her chest, the way some women do when they know they are in danger of death, and prayed to the heavens and to what ever god was listening, that she would have the strength to fight with Kikyo.  
  
She really didn't want to fight the miko, but she also knew that it would most likely put Kikyo at a sense of ease if she were killed and her soul returned to peace.  
  
Kagome knew she had no weapon...that her bow was left in Kaede's village and that even then, her arrow supply was short. That...and she was no where as near as accurate as the miko aiming at her. She would most likely miss and hit something else. Then, there was also the fact that as soon as she turned around, Kikyo would lay an arrow deep in her back and most likely leave her to die slowly.  
  
"Kikyo..." Kagome began, but she was cut off.  
  
"I know that Inuyasha loves you now...and that he no longer has time for me. But perhaps if I killed the thing he loves the most, maybe then I can get him to go to Hell with me. Then, I will be remembered to him for eternity."  
  
There would have been tears in Kikyo's eyes were she not made of clay and ashes, and Kagome felt sorry for her. She knew how heart breaking it was to know that the one man you loved, loved another. She had experience it ever since Kikyo had been returned to life.  
  
Kagome nodded, and stepped toward Kikyo, some how knowing what to do. She felt a well of power with in her now, and she knew that it was the miko power in her welling up with in her body.  
  
She was of course the reincarnation of this poor miko, and she felt sorry for her. This miko had lived a life of being a mere miko, and then had had to protect the jewel. Then, when it brought her Inuyasha and she had fallen in love with him, she was forced by betrayal to pin him the God tree. Kikyo had never truly been...a real woman.  
  
Well...perhaps this time...Kagome could help Kikyo. Maybe she could free the miko from her pain.  
  
"Kikyo..." She whispered again. Kagome no longer felt fear.  
  
It was supposed to be that fear in her that Kikyo had left when she nearly killed her the first time...for the jewel. It was that fear that had followed Kagome...and now...now that she was standing face to face, and saw how weak and sad Kikyo was...she was no longer afraid. The fear had left her...and this time it was for good. "I want to talk to you." She told the miko, as she stepped forward.  
  
"Well...I don't." Kikyo replied. "You stole the only thing that I ever possessed and now I will kill you for it."  
  
Kagome was taken aback. Possessed...?  
  
"Kikyo! How dare you say such a thing! You can't possess Inuyasha just like he can't possess you. He's a free spirit and he doesn't deserve to be locked up in a world of fire with you!"  
  
So much for talking.  
  
"He does belong to me. The day we met is the day I came to own him!" Kikyo replied, pulling even tighter on her arrow. She would attack very soon now.  
  
"But Kikyo! How can you own him? It is not like he's a slave or can ever be a slave. No matter what you mean to him, he won't be enslaved by anyone through his free will. Sure you pinned him to the God tree...So what if he once promised that he would become human for you...He isn't that way anymore and that's just that!" Kagome shouted.  
  
Kikyo had had enough. She didn't want to hear anymore of the young miko's senseless ramblings.  
  
So...she set her arrow off...it whizzed through the air...but somehow...as if it were by fate...it did not hit the mark Kikyo had aimed for.  
  
It did not hit Kagome's heart...Instead, it turned away from her and landed in a tree parallel to where she stood.  
  
But why?  
  
The wind was still even now...and there was no one in the area that she knew or sensed that could have diverted it...unless...  
  
"Kagome...you've become quite skilled...not even I could have knocked the arrow away on such a pure spirit." Kikyo commented, setting her bow down.  
  
It would most likely be of no use to her unless she could get Kagome from behind.  
  
"But I didn't do that!" Kagome shouted back, still staring at the arrow in disbelief.  
  
She didn't believe she had knocked it away...but then again...she had that feeling that she had...probably by spiritual energy or something like that.  
  
"Very funny Kagome." Kikyo replied, stepping towards the jittery miko. "You even had me fooled that you had no power with in you." But as Kikyo commented her, she silently told her soul stealing dragons around her to pin Kagome to the wall.  
  
Kagome couldn't knock them away with spiritual power...because that was all these dragons were...spirit. It's how they could steal and carry souls and could fly with out so much as food and water to keep them living. They were nothing but dragon illusions.  
  
"I'm being serious...I didn't do that!" Kagome shouted in return, backing up as the miko came closer and closer. Soon Kagome's back was against the tree and she had no where else to run. She also noticed that it was a fair distance from the well.  
  
"Say what you like..." Kikyo said as she stepped up to Kagome... "But whether you like it or not...no matter how much you deny it...you are of my soul...and just like that you can also be captured."  
  
Kagome gave her a confused look, but quickly understood when Kikyo's dragons wrapped around her and pinned her tightly to the tree.  
  
"What the...?" Kagome began, but a look around told her that either she had better find a way to tear the soul stealers off...or she would be in trouble.  
  
The problem with this situation, was that she could not run, and she was surrounded by dragons that stole the souls of women for a living...literally...  
  
And the fact that she was a women, and they may steal her soul if she wasn't careful...was not easy to think about.  
  
"How very interesting..." Kikyo murmured with a smile. "...that you would die at the very tree I pinned Inuyasha to fifty years ago."  
  
Kagome jumped at that, but another look at her surroundings told her that Kikyo was right. She hadn't even noticed that she had come this far from the well...she had only known that she wanted to get as far away from Kikyo as was possible. Well...that little idea hadn't done her too well.  
  
"How would you like to die...Would you like me to kill you...or leave you pinned to that tree for eternity...a dead being with no soul and a lifeless body?" Kikyo asked, snickering with pleasure.  
  
"How about this...I don't want to die!" Kagome told her, struggling against the hold of the dragons. But what she didn't know, was that these dragons didn't need a dead woman's body to steal souls from...they could take them from a living one...in which they showed Kagome that fact quite well.  
  
She watched as the first batch of her soul was stolen from her, and then the second, and taken to Kikyo...where she took the souls and placed them in her own clay body.  
  
By the third batch, Kagome began to feel wobbly in the knees and soon fell on her shins when there was no real energy left to support her.  
  
Kagome had to think fast...she had to decide how to save her self...  
  
But what could she do?  
  
Kouga snickered when he finally planted his foot in Kagura's face. She had made a mistake of becoming too aggravated with him, and had underestimated his speed.  
  
So...he decided to show her how stupid she was acting, and knocked her out of the sky as she was preparing another wind attack to send at him.  
  
When she had landed, he raced in, and planted his foot on her chest, threatening her that he would crush her chest if she didn't tell him where Naraku was. He of course already planned on killing Kagura, because he had found out from Inuyasha that she had been the one to kill his comrades, but he also wanted to get at Naraku for sending her to do it and for giving him that poisonously fake shard.  
  
After the kick, Kagura hit a tree, and then slumped to the ground, trying to stand up from the shock of the fall. There was a small trickle of blood coming down from the crease of her mouth, and she could already feel the loose tooth in her mouth that Kouga had knocked in. But just as she began to stand, he stepped up to her, just as beaten as she, and planted his foot down on her chest.  
  
"Now Kagura...Where's Naraku?" He asked, gruffly, pressing down hard as to give her pain.  
  
She groaned, and tried to brush his foot off, only to get him to press harder. "Where's Naraku?" He repeated even louder.  
  
"How the Hell would I know!?" She shouted back, licking the blood at her lip. "He doesn't confide on me about his whereabouts.  
  
"I think you do know though." Kouga continued...as he pressed even harder.  
  
"Kill me...I don't know!" She shouted.  
  
"I'll kill you in due time Kagura...now tell me where he is!" He accented his question with a rough press from his foot.  
  
She gargled on her blood for a moment, and, knowing that her ribs were broken, finally informed him of the plan. Then afterward, she begged for her death.  
  
Kagura wanted freedom from Naraku, and finally, now that she was on the verge of death...she realized that she may never get it unless it was in death. So now...she had finally given up on life.  
  
But Kouga surprised her...he took his foot from her chest and began to walk away, in the direction of Kaede's village.  
  
"Wait! What are you doing? Weren't you supposed to kill me?" Kagura asked, sitting up with a groan.  
  
"Yeah...but I'll do it later...Now I got a scoundrel named Naraku to kill...But when you're free Kagura...then I'm gonna kill you!" He shouted back with out turning around.  
  
Kagura snarled at him, but then, realizing that she might actually get her freedom from Naraku if Kouga actually did kill him, she smiled. It was the kind of smile you get when you were angry about something so bad you felt like tearing up something else, and you realized the situation from another angle. It's the smile you get when you realize how truly silly your actions of the past really were while in a fit of rage.  
  
Kagura pulled a feather from her hair and enlarged it, using it as a ride to take herself somewhere to hide and recover.  
  
Shippo had finally had enough of fighting Kanna. Their battle hadn't been long, but it had been grueling believe it or not. Kanna had actually stolen a large chunk of Shippo's soul from him, leaving him nearly defenseless along with the paralyzing seal over his body. Kanna almost had gotten his entire soul, only somehow, with out realizing it, he had managed to free one hand from the seal and hit her mirror. It hadn't done much damage, only left a rigid melt mark in one corner, but it had stopped Kanna for a moment.  
  
Unfortunately, he was still trapped, and didn't know how to escape.  
  
After a moment had passed, and Kanna had repaired the mirror with a strange wave of her hand, she returned to sucking his soul from his body.  
  
Only then...a miracle happened.  
  
You do remember Moru right? The little black dragon that had been brought from Kazu's own body? The little ghost like creature that was the only remaining dragon left to Kojika, and was of course, undisciplined like it's master Kazu.  
  
The reason why he had survived was still unknown to even Kojika herself, but even she suspected that the little dragon had taken the most of Kazu's soul when it came from him...so perhaps...Kazu wasn't as dead as it was thought. That and the strange fact of him was that he had at first disregarded his master Kojika, and then, after Kazu's death, had been very warm to her. Another reason it was believed that he had taken on Kazu's soul instead of Kikyo. But there was no real proof.  
  
Well...Moru had been hiding in a tree (for he was ghost like and he could go through solid objects) and upon seeing Kanna winning over a defenseless Shippo, had jumped out to help.  
  
He had first tried to fight with Kanna from behind, but it was very apparent that he could not touch her with this ghost-like body. So then...next, he decided to attack her weapon.  
  
This proved very helpful...for...because he was so much like a spirit, he was sucked into the little demon's mirror, and wreaked havoc on the inside.  
  
Only a minute later, the glass trembled and shattered, leaving slivers of mirror every where. Then Moru and the rest of Shippo's soul jumped out of the mirror and the spell on Shippo's body was broken.  
  
Of course...Shippo used this opportunity before Kanna could revive her mirror to fight with her.  
  
Sure it seemed unfair, but you're talking about fighting a girl-like demon whom had pinned him down unfairly.  
  
Now it was his turn...  
  
He threw some fox fire at her, and scorched her hair, before taking the frame of her mirror and tossing it into a stream nearby.  
  
Kanna stared at it calmly, her face never changing even as she quietly patted out the blue flames, then, just as peacefully, she began to chase her mirror by walking.  
  
Shippo was very proud of himself for winning the battle, but he kind of felt bad about throwing the mirror in the water.  
  
So...to make up for his little antics, he bent down and collected the pieces of mirror into one pile before leaving.  
  
Moru watched him in confusion, wandering why he was saving what the little dragon had broke, but chirped happily as they began to walk away.  
  
By now...Shippo had caught the scent of the real Naraku, and was on his way to help Inuyasha if he could.  
  
He probably would have smelt Kagome too...but Kikyo had lead her away from the well, and even then, created a force field around them with out Kagome's knowledge, so that she might kill her reincarnation with out disturbances.  
  
Miroku, Sango, and Kirara, had just barely made it into Inuyasha's domain, noticing the familiar trees as they passed them by and smiling happily even though they knew they might not leave the battle with Naraku alive. Kirara purred on Sango's shoulder, rubbing her neck whenever she could, and Miroku, suddenly serious for even him, walked ahead, leaving small imprints of his staffs bottom as he banged it on the ground. Sango carried her boomerang tiredly, and simply wished that they could have another day or so and that there was a hot spring nearby.  
  
They were so close to Naraku they could feel and even see slight traces of the miasma in the wind. The further they traveled, the thicker it grew.  
  
But they were not alone...Sango didn't know how she knew...but there was somebody else there...watching them...  
  
She wondered who it could be.  
  
At first, she hadn't taken too much mind to this other presence, merely noting that it followed them and that it kept close by.  
  
Now...it was so close that she could actually feel what it was thinking...smell it's sweat and feel it's warm flesh...  
  
Kill...It thought. Kill them for my master...  
  
Of course Sango kept her guard up, and she looked around every time she felt it come to close.  
  
Finally...it seemed as if it came too close.  
  
Upon the right feeling she managed to jump up and away from a flying scythe that was heading at her.  
  
Miroku had witnessed how uneasy she had been on their little voyage back, and upon catching her dodge from the corner of his eyes, he did the same.  
  
Sango worked by instinct when it came to being attacked. As she floated up in the sky, past the trees, she instantly pulled forth her boomerang bone and tossed it at their predator.  
  
It didn't hit of course, for this person that was trying to kill them had seen this attack before, and had been prepared. He jumped up and out of the way, flying up into the sky just as Sango and Miroku were coming down.  
  
Kohaku...  
  
He was wearing the usual demon slayer uniform, with the yellow embroidery on the chest that was their family image and the green pieces that attached as armor.  
  
His poison mask was on, and his eyes were tiny sinister slits, staring at them with a hunger for blood.  
  
What had happened to the innocent little boy she once knew...The cute little brother who was partially afraid of the trade of the demon exterminator. The little kid that she grew up with and taught and whom was more important to her than probably anyone else.  
  
Kohaku...  
  
He looked ready and willing to kill them both now...and being that they were all wounded didn't sit well with Sango at all.  
  
How would they escape this one? What could they possibly do to save Kohaku? Would they survive this?  
  
Rushing thoughts in her head, as they are with those that think their close to death.  
  
Yet not all die after such thoughts.  
  
Sango landed and caught her boomerang from the air. This was to be the final battle for her brother, whether she saved him or not. She would not allow him to go on fighting like this.  
  
Either Kohaku would be saved or killed...she vowed.  
  
Miroku noticed Sango's determination towards her brother. He knew how precious Kohaku was to her, but also how much love she had for him.  
  
If she killed him, she would most definitely kill herself afterwards.  
  
He knew that he would have to prevent that action, and so he only thought of one way.  
  
They would have to save Kohaku, no matter what.  
  
"Kohaku...please wake up...I'm your sister...Remember me!" Shouted Sango, watching her brother with pain in her limbs.  
  
She hadn't expected that jump to cause her so much pain in her wounds.  
  
Kohaku retrieved his scythe, and continued to stare at Sango blankly.  
  
"Kohaku!" Sango shouted, just as her brother tossed the scythe at her once more. This time, Miroku had to push her out of the way of the attack lest she get hit and killed. Sango was having trouble fighting her brother seriously. Then again, would anyone have the guts to kill that of which they loved and that which is all that is left of their family?  
  
"Miroku?" Sango asked in question when they landed again a few feet away. He was hugging her warmly, as if afraid to let her go.  
  
"Sango. The Kohaku you once knew is no more. Naraku has destroyed his mind. We have no choice but to kill him or force Naraku to free his soul and let him die in peace."  
  
"No! That's not true! He's still there Miroku! I know it! We can save him...He'll live!" But just as she argued this, she heard the whistle of metal through the air, and the sick shredding sound of flesh when it's stabbed.  
  
Her eyes widened in shock when she noticed the scythe imbedded in Miroku's back, and the warm trickle of blood on her hands.  
  
"Miroku...MIROKU!!!" She shouted, hugging him close with tears in her eyes. An instant later, she pulled the scythe from his back, and held him, bleeding in her arms. "Miroku...! Miroku...!" She continued to yell, holding him close with tears.  
  
"Sango...Are you okay?" the houshi asked, reaching up to touch her face. "Did he hurt you with the attack?"  
  
"I'm fine..." she answered a moment later, taking his hand in hers at her face. "But what about you...?"  
  
"I'm sure I'll be fine...." He whispered, a small trickle of blood beginning to come up over the corner of his mouth. "Sango...I'm sorry...I can't help you any longer in this fight..."  
  
"Don't be sorry Miroku...!" Sango whispered back, holding his hand to her heart. "You'll be fine...and it will return back to normal okay...there's nothing to be sorry about." She replied, trying to scrub the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.  
  
"Sango...should I die...I want you to know..."  
  
"You won't die! You'll be fine...It will all be fine...Please Miroku!"  
  
"Sango...I...I..." His eyes were beginning to close.  
  
"Miroku...please stay with me! Don't go...Please don't go!"  
  
"I...I love you...Sango..."  
  
His hand went limp in hers, and his eyes closed in eternal slumber...  
  
Miroku...was dead...  
  
"Miroku...Miroku..." She whispered, shaking him softly. "Miroku...Miroku...! MIROKU!!!!"  
  
But it was no use...he was gone...and she couldn't save him.  
  
He was the only man she had ever truly loved...the only one...  
  
No matter his silly little excuses and his perverted little ways...no matter his little antics and lies and the way he asked every woman for his child...no matter that he liked to peek on her when ever he could...  
  
She had loved him...and now she couldn't tell him...  
  
He was gone...and she could no longer confess her one and only secret to him...her love...  
  
Kirara mewed sadly, and sat next to Miroku, nudging him with her nose. He did not stir.  
  
Sango could not control the tears...the heat and warmth of them spilled past her lashes like waterfalls and unto Miroku's pale warm face.  
  
No longer...  
  
Gone...  
  
"NOOOOO!!!!!!!" She sobbed, hugging him close to her. "NOOOOO!!!!"  
  
You're most likely asking why she had not been attacked during this little scene...  
  
Well...although Kohaku was controlled by Naraku...there was one thing Naraku could not destroy in a kind and loving boy...one thing that evil could not suppress...  
  
A boy's love for his sister and his family...his love for life and humanity...his desire to be free and happy...all could not be controlled by a simple evil composed of deadly demons...  
  
Kohaku stood there, moving only to retrieve his scythe, and stared at the two...tears coming down his own cheeks as he raised his scythe, ready to kill Sango...  
  
He knew what he was doing...he saw who it was he was supposed to kill...but he could not control his body...it did Naraku's will...  
  
"I love you..." Sango whispered, kissing Miroku's cooling lips... "I love you...and I always will..."  
  
She set him down and stood up, staring at Kohaku with sad eyes.  
  
He too stared at her...his eyes full of sadness as well, but there was no restraint to his body...nothing stopping him from killing her but his sorrow...  
  
"Kohaku..." She whispered...then...unlike the usual warrior...she stretched out her arms and bid him to kill her... "Do it Kohaku...I don't want to live... Fate has a sick sense of humor... it likes to play with me, and instead of taking what it has given to me, it has taken everything around me...I took father, and mother before him. It took my friends, the people I knew...it took the only man I loved..." she sobbed slightly before returning her eyes to her brother. "And it took you away from me and made us fight like this... Why I don't know...But I want to end it...I'm tired of vengeance, of revenge...I want peace...and if we must fight...then I bid you kill me now...so that I no longer must see and suffer pain...Please...do this for me!" Sango shouted, bowing her head. "Kill me...Kohaku..."  
  
"Sango...I...I can't stop it..." He returned, surprising her...She hadn't expected him to remember. "I know you're pain...I share it...but sis...I can't stop my body...I can't control it... Stop me...please..." He pleaded, crying. "Please!"  
  
"Kohaku!" Sango shouted, jumping forward and hugging him tightly, not caring whether he stabbed him or not..."You are my one and only brother...and I love you no matter what...but if you can't fight it...can't fight Naraku...then you have no hope of dying in peace. Fight him Kohaku! Fight Naraku's will and live! You can do it!" she shouted, hugging him tighter.  
  
"I can't..." he returned.  
  
"Yes you can...there's no such thing as can't! You can do it! I believe in you...so believe in yourself! Don't let me down!"  
  
"Sango..." He whispered, closing his eyes.  
  
The scythe came down with out him realizing it...  
  
It hit he leafy forest floor with a thud as brother and sister embraced tightly.  
  
"Sango...I'm free..." He whispered, smiling... "I fought him and I won...I'm free...and I remember everything..."  
  
"Kohaku..." she whispered. "I'm...glad..." *What do you think? I think it was okay, but you all probably hate me now for killing Miroku right? I figured so. Anyways...no worries...I'll take care of the story...I'm sure you're wondering if Miroku will return? Well...that you'll have to find out...I can't tell you! (Don't you just hate me?)* 


	32. The Story Comes Together

*Here you go! Another successful chapter! Or at least I hope so! I think it's gets better as it goes, and I really like the ending! But I can't tell it to you, or I'll spoil it ^ . ~ !*  
  
Disclaimer: If you don't know already, then just go back to the other disclaimers for reference!  
  
Chapter 32  
  
Inuyasha's battle wasn't going as well as he thought it should have.  
  
Sure he was doing a pretty well job with his claws...his only problem was that he couldn't hit Naraku...  
  
The mixed Hanyou constantly jumped from his way...and laughed when Inuyasha hit a target other than him.  
  
After the fifth insult on his attacks, something along the lines of "Why Inuyasha...I thought you were better at this! How were you capable of fighting those other demons with this skill" Inuyasha pulled out the Tetsusaiga and began to fight with that.  
  
Readers that know Inuyasha well enough, know that he does not remain calm when insulted like his brother Sesshomaru. On the contrary, he get's angrier and more vicious with every insult.  
  
This time was no exception.  
  
Unfortunately, no matter how much angrier he got, he still could not get at Naraku.  
  
The spider would jump in, only close enough to sneer in Inuyasha's face, before jumping out happily and laughing at how Inuyasha swatted at him madly.  
  
Then, when Inuyasha performed his Kaze no Kizu on him, Naraku chuckled and presented a technique of his own.  
  
By the time Inuyasha was able to catch this move through the thickening miasma, he was stuck with fighting over a dozen Naraku's...eleven mere dummies that he used and only one the original.  
  
To say the least...Inuyasha was none to pleased.  
  
"Get your ass back over here!" He shouted, as he tried to slice on in half and missed.  
  
Another one stepped in behind him and poked his back, disappearing in the miasma when he turned around.  
  
Inuyasha again turned around trying to slice it, but found nothing there.  
  
This setting of twelve different Naraku's was not helping Inuyasha whatsoever...and he kind of felt angry that he could not find the real.  
  
Were Kagome here she could probably spot him out by the Shikon shards, but considering that Kagome was supposed to be safe at home (if she listened), he had no other choice but to try and take care of the small army himself.  
  
Then, there was the miasma shrouding them so that it made it nearly impossible to find them with his nose.  
  
Inuyasha growled in anger and swiped at another Naraku, hoping to lighten his rage on the dummies unless he found the real one.  
  
If he only it wasn't only him fighting...If only he had his friends there to help.  
  
He hated to admit it...but it was good to have help...  
  
It was great to have a group of powerful fighters on his side for once, and to have Kagome to go to with his wounds...to have such powerful allies...  
  
It was good to have a demon exterminator and a houshi to give him laughs...and good to have his best friend in Kagome instead of Kikyo...  
  
It's hard to explain how difficult it is to live your entire life fighting against deception and lies, trying to stay away from others from fear of being betrayed...to live a life of little love and emotion.  
  
He hoped...that should Naraku kill him, he would at least have the chance to tell them good bye...and he was sorry for the fact that he may never see Kagome again.  
  
Inuyasha clenched his teeth as he attacked another puppet, this time striking and killing it.  
  
Well...there was no time at the moment to feel sorry for himself...so now he had to concentrate on killing...  
  
But now...he had another goal besides avenging Kikyo and getting her off of his back...He had another purpose...  
  
He had to survive...to see Sango...and Miroku...Shippo...and Kirara...Kouga...Kaede...  
  
And Kagome...He had to see Kagome again...  
  
He had to...  
  
This gave him a new strength...a power he never knew he had...  
  
He began to move faster...swung harder...became stronger and more agile and smarter all in that moment...  
  
You could say that the love he felt for his friends was strong in this moment...and that like wood to a fire...this love was his fuel...  
  
It burned strong...and made him strong...and gave him a reason to fight an win...  
  
He struck down another puppet...and then only two minutes later...another...  
  
Soon...he had annihilated all of the fake Naraku's, until he was left down to the last...  
  
The miasma grew thicker... but it didn't seem to overwhelm him anymore...  
  
Naraku was his opponent...and nothing could stand in Inuyasha's way of victory but him...  
  
Naraku had to die...  
  
Inuyasha jumped up and slashed at him...causing the ground to erupt like a tremor had struck...but Naraku had gotten out of the way by then.  
  
'What just happened here?' he thought, landing on the fallen branch of a tree. 'He wasn't this powerful when we started...If I don't do something quickly...he could possibly kill me.'  
  
Naraku snickered and pulled the small glass ball from his baboon pelt...a wide smile on his face...  
  
"The Shikon no Tama!" Inuyasha whispered to himself...wondering how he could get it from Naraku's hands without the spider hanyou hitting him.  
  
"This is over now Inuyasha...you cannot win...but I will compliment you on getting this far...most would be killed..."  
  
"Enough of this garbage! Let's finish this!" Inuyasha shouted back, clenching his sword tighter in his grip.  
  
"Very well." Naraku chided, thrusting the large piece of Shikon into his chest. "Let's end this."  
  
Naraku's body swelled up and burst into many different tendrils of roots...  
  
Giant red flowers sprang out of each tendril and bloomed...presenting many poisonous barbs...  
  
Some of the roots stretched out and balanced Naraku's body...causing him to stand like a spider...  
  
His upper chest and head remained the same...except that his eyes became completely red and his mouth widened to reveal sharp oozing fangs.  
  
"Okay Inuyasha..." his voice boomed...not like the stern manly voice he had before...but now the heavy echoing giant voice... "Let's finish this!"  
  
Kojika was beginning to feel the effects of the fake shikon as she and Mikoto came to the climax of their little fight. Like the poison she knew it was, she felt the cold chills in her flesh that seemed as if it were underneath it...the warm sweaty forehead showing she had a fever...and movements she made becoming sluggish...  
  
She couldn't help but breath heavily with every attack she threw off at the dragon elder...and nearly tripped here and there when she jumped out of the way...  
  
Then there was the pain in her stomach where the poisonous crystal had been imbedded in her body.  
  
Kojika was in bad shape...and it was getting worse with every moment...  
  
That and Mikoto didn't give her the time to remove the poison so that she could try to heal herself...he wasn't stupid...  
  
He knew that she had a small ability to heal...and to heal herself...and if he gave her the chance...she'd be even worse than he had seen her before...  
  
"You know...if you were to be my queen...then I could remove the crystal for you." Mikoto mocked...laughing heavily afterwards...  
  
"Perhaps...but then you would kill me then and steal the throne completely for yourself...and then who would stand in your way."  
  
"Clever girl Kojika...I knew you wouldn't accept that." Mikoto replied, sitting in a perch in the tree.  
  
"Mikoto...you know I have little time left for these jokes...So I've made a decision..."  
  
"Oh...and what's that." Replied Mikoto, flexing his sharp claws...the dragon eye gleaming brightly at his neck.  
  
"I've decided...that either I kill you and survive...or we both die and neither of us live...Either way Mikoto...you're not going to survive this battle."  
  
"We shall see little dragoness, we shall see..." he laughed, before jumping down to slash at Kojika.  
  
She jumped out of the way with a wheeze and a cough, and then returned to glaring at him.  
  
'I have very little time left...this poison is working faster than I suspected it would...I have no other choice...I'm going to have to take my full form...' Kojika thought desperately...wheezing deeply... 'I have no other choice...'  
  
Kojika nodded slightly and stood up, using much of her energy in the process.  
  
"Mikoto! This ends now...I will kill you!" she shouted, jumping at him in hopes of hitting him.  
  
Mikoto was prepared however, and jumped out of her way...landing a little off.  
  
"Hah! You're too weak now! You can't even touch me!" snickered Mikoto. He was quiet a minute later when a thick slash appeared on his chest, leaking blood on his rich clothing. "What?" he asked in surprise, but then smiled and laughed a moment after that.  
  
"You're pretty good Kojika... you even confused me with that super speed of yours...but you won't win...you can't...I'm too far ahead of you now! Hahahahah!"  
  
"You fool...You don't realize do you." Kojika snickered softly, holding her stomach with pain.  
  
"What's that?" Mikoto asked with a smile.  
  
"You're blood is on my claws...and so is the Dragon Eye!"  
  
"What!?" He shouted back, searching his clothing. The Dragon Eye was indeed missing.  
  
Kojika stood up and held it out for him to see. It's dark green color glinted beautifully in the sunlight. "My father's stone is returned to me now...and with it... I can destroy you Mikoto! You did a pretty good job of poisoning me...and forcing me to use up my energy...but now..." she whispered, pulling the poisonous jewel from her stomach in a movement Mikoto couldn't catch... "I have my jewel...and you're life."  
  
Before Mikoto could move she managed to toss the bloody jewel into his chest and right next to his heart. "Now you too are poison...and my blood on it will prevent you from pulling it out of your flesh... But just to be fair...I will not heal myself of my poison...so we both will fight close to death!"  
  
Mikoto's hands scrambled clumsily over his small wound, trying to pull the fake shikon out, but to no success.  
  
Then, he laughed like a mad man, his hands on his hips and his head held up high.  
  
"So Kojika! You're more resourceful than I thought. Fine...but my blood is also in the Dragon Eye in your hands...so I can call it back anytime I want!" He returned, beckoning the Eye back to him.  
  
It flew from Kojika's hands with such speed that it nearly broke her fingers and landed gracefully in his palm, and then around his neck.  
  
"Now...I will kill you!" He yelled...calling on the power of the Eye to give him a true dragon form.  
  
Kojika smiled as well as he...She had retrieved enough energy from her father's stone to take her own true form.  
  
She reached into the back of her mind...finding her small ball of energy and added her father's green magic to it...causing it to swell...  
  
Using the magic, she sent a message through her body to reveal itself...and a moment later she was transforming...becoming the true dragon she was.  
  
First her eyes glowed red...and then her arms stretched out and her claws grew...Then her legs stretched and grew kinking to look like the hind legs of a cat...Her chest and belly enlarged, hidden behind many glimmering black scales...  
  
Her claws sprouted out as sharp as daggers and finally her head enlarged to the size of a village hut...her fangs growing long and deadly and her eyes finally taking their true color...silver...  
  
Kojika's long black hair retracted and became a long row of spikes running down her spine to her long tail, ending in a sharp dagger like tip that looked quite deadly. Her body was engulfed in the tight graceful black scales, and along her sides a red kanji appeared, as if painted in blood. It represented the heir of the ancient dragons...the power of the true elders...as their blood did flow through her veins...  
  
Large graceful bat like wings sprouted from her shoulder blades and flapped softly, stretching from their long kept hiding place.  
  
Kojika gave off a low growl, stretching her long graceful neck with poise.  
  
The true dragon elder, had arrived.  
  
Mikoto's form also changed...his body grew out out to the same shape of a dragon...only his scales were green and his eyes were red...his hair became a tiny line of dagger like scales along his spine and his tail tipped off in a fan like shape. His fangs and claws were just as sharp, just as deadly, and his wings were just as big as Kojika's, only his body was smaller and not so graceful.  
  
So...now I shall kill you... Kojika said with telepathy, considering that Dragon's can only talk in chirps and clicks.  
  
Contraire Kojika, it is you whose death is near...for I have the Dragon Eye. Mikoto replied, shaking his neck to loosen it. Soon I will be the true Ruler of Dragons!  
  
Kouga was happy to have defeated Kagura with out having to kill her. For some reason...he didn't want to kill her...He wanted her to live...  
  
Maybe it was the fact that she too suffered because of Naraku's wrath...and that she too would benefit from Naraku's death...or maybe it was because she was forced to kill because of the spider hanyou's orders.  
  
In any case, he was finished with that battle and was now on his way to kill Naraku and find Kagome.  
  
He was surprised though when he felt the wind pick up and the miasma thicken the closer he came to Kaede's village. The miasma he understood...the wind he didn't.  
  
It wasn't like it was a cold wind...it was warm...soothing...as if it was a loving wind...  
  
He knew it wasn't natural...but he also wondered who was causing it...  
  
He became even more astonished when the two shards he kept in his legs jumped out on their own and flew off...as if they had never been with him.  
  
Kouga stood up and began to chase the shards down, not even minding the pain in his legs.  
  
Shippo was now in the deepest part of the miasma, and the deeper he got, the more of Naraku he sensed. He also sensed Inuyasha...and Kouga wasn't too far off from them either...  
  
Shippo trudged on...hoping to come upon some one he knew and cared for.  
  
Inuyasha had had enough of fighting with this new more powerful Naraku. He couldn't even kill him. Every time Inuyasha hit the hanyou's body, it revived itself like one of it's puppets and then would hit him, causing a small scratch or in one case, an actual puncture through his arm.  
  
He was sure that his bone was crushed.  
  
All of Tetsusaiga attacks had no use on him as well...Not a single one seemed to harm him.  
  
Finally with all the frustration and anger welling inside of him, Inuyasha leapt up and slashed at Naraku's head, nearly slicing it off.  
  
Naraku in turn, threw out a tentacle that Inuyasha wasn't expecting, and stabbed him right through the chest, causing some of his ribs to crack.  
  
Then he threw Inuyasha off.  
  
He hit his head on a tree...causing his head to seethe with pain.  
  
"Damn...I can't even get close!" Inuyasha whispered furiously. The pain was increasing, and it was becoming harder to hide it with in.  
  
"So Inuyasha." Naraku smiled, coming in closer. "I'm curious. How does true pain feel?"  
  
"Go f&%# yourself you bastard!" Inuyasha shouted, clutching his bleeding chest.  
  
"Interesting words for some one who's going to die very soon." Naraku snickered happily. "So, what else should we say?"  
  
"Go to HELL!" Inuyasha shouted, stabbing out with the Tetsusaiga unexpectedly.  
  
Naraku tried to jump out of the way, but the sword struck him, stabbing him deeply through the stomach.  
  
He glared at the dog hanyou sitting before him, and snarled. "That was foul...even for you." Naraku told him.  
  
"I'm sure it is Naraku! But I'm playing by your rules now...not mine." Inuyasha returned, gasping in pain.  
  
Naraku laughed softly, before jumping off of the sword.  
  
A minute later, he was completely healed.  
  
Inuyasha wasn't too astonished at that, considering he'd been healing himself the entire match. But he had been sure that he had hit him in the spot where the shikon jewel was. Apparently not.  
  
"You can't beat me Inuyasha. Never. Not as long as I have the jewel. You see, in this form, I can move the jewel around through my body where ever I choose. You can't find it. And plus you don't have that wench Kagome to show you where it is, so you're with out hope."  
  
"What do you mean? You knew I sent Kagome home?"  
  
"Oh yes...I did. But I also know she returned hoping to find you, and was met by a hoard of my insects, by my servant Kanna, and by the real Kikyo. She's most likely dead right now...lifeless in her own blood. Isn't that just a beautiful scene Inuyasha?"  
  
Inuyasha stared at the ground, his mind racing.  
  
How was it possible...he hadn't even sensed her return...or smelled her nearby... How could she have come back with out him knowing...  
  
Unless...  
  
The miasma!  
  
It was the miasma...he couldn't smell her because of it.  
  
This entire time, Naraku had been keeping him busy so that his minions could kill Kagome...and by now it was probably too late...Kagome was probably dead by now...  
  
He didn't even think about the possibility of her having another shard hidden at home...or the fact that she would disobey him and return.  
  
Now...she was most likely dead and he could do nothing about it!  
  
Inuyasha could feel the tears welling up in his eyes, the hot sticky sensation of them coming down his cheeks.  
  
It only made him angrier.  
  
He sat up and punched the ground, nearly crushing his hand in the process.  
  
Kagome...  
  
He imagined her beautiful face lying in a pool of her own blood...  
  
He saw her eyes lifeless and clouded...staring off into the ground...her body mangled and dead...  
  
There would most likely be an arrow or two in her back dealt by Kikyo, and she would have died poisoned.  
  
And then Naraku would have her soul at his disposal...or Kikyo would have it complete.  
  
Well then...that was it...  
  
She was everything he had in the world...his existence...everything...  
  
Now he had to kill Naraku...there was no other choice...his rage wouldn't let him leave...  
  
He would kill Naraku and avenge Kikyo...and Kagome if she was indeed dead...  
  
Then...when he found Kagome...he would bury her lifeless body...and then commit suicide...  
  
He had lost Kikyo before...and his family before that...but he wouldn't let himself lose another love and then just live on like nothing had happened.  
  
He would not...!  
  
Inuyasha used his sword as support, and lifted himself off the ground with a lot of effort.  
  
Naraku snickered at his weakness and then reached out, trying to stab Inuyasha in the head this time.  
  
He was surprised when one clawed hand reached out and caught the root in mid air, squeezing it until in fell in half.  
  
"What?" Naraku inquired.  
  
"Die Naraku!" Inuyasha replied, jabbing out and striking Naraku right in the heart with his claws...causing it to burst.  
  
Naraku jumped away, holding his chest as it bled thickly.  
  
He didn't have long, just like Inuyasha...so he figured he would poison Inuyasha and kill him slowly...for there was no cure to his poison.  
  
Naraku sent out one of his poisonous flowers and it stuck Inuyasha in the neck, injecting him with it's poison before he reached up and crushed it.  
  
"Hah! You're dead Inu—"but he did not finish the sentence.  
  
A strange feeling took over his body, like something was leaving him...and when he looked down, he found his tentacles disappearing and his human like legs returning. His fangs shrunk into his jaw and his body returned to normal.  
  
"What...!" He shouted.  
  
Inuyasha snickered.  
  
"You're ball of shikon left you..." he whispered, watching the tiny glass orb fly away from Naraku.  
  
"No!" Naraku shouted, chasing the ball with a bleeding heart.  
  
Inuyasha laughed softly and fell to the ground as he felt his life quickly leaving him. He didn't know where shards were going, but at the moment he didn't care. As long as they weren't in Naraku's hands...then he was happy...  
  
He was surprised when a small hand touched his shoulder effectionately.  
  
"Inuyasha...are you alright?" came Shippo, jumping out in front of Inuyasha.  
  
"What's it look like fox!" He shouted with a groan.  
  
"You need a doctor bad!" Kouga told him stepping in from the trees to the right of where Naraku ran. "Where's Naraku?"  
  
"Chasing his ball of shikon."  
  
"What...?" asked a confused Shippo looking around. "His shikon shards ran away?"  
  
"Flew off is more like it." Inuyasha answered, gasping as he felt the poison spread.  
  
"Some one is taking he shards." Kouga informed. "What ever it is took mine as well."  
  
"Inuyasha...are you alright." Came a feminine voice from behind him. The boy Kohaku ran out, with Sango behind him, carrying a dead houshi on her back.  
  
Kohaku gasped as he stared at the pool of blood developing around the hanyou.  
  
He tore of his shirt and bent down, wiping up and clogging what he could.  
  
Sango came up to him and set the lifeless monk on the ground, his skin white and cold.  
  
"What happened to Miroku?!" Inuyasha asked in surprise.  
  
"I killed him." Kohaku replied, casting his eyes to the ground. "But I didn't mean to. Naraku was controlling me."  
  
Inuyasha glared at him and stood up, pushing everyone away that was trying to keep him sitting.  
  
"Naraku is going to die!" He shouted, using his Tetsusaiga and a tree for support.  
  
"Please Inuyasha...calm down...you need to sit." Sango whispered in hopes of helping him. "Sit or you'll hurt yourself worse."  
  
"Yeah...sit mutt. Besides...you'll only be slowing me down when I go in to kill Naraku." He whispered angrily.  
  
"I'm coming. No matter what! I'm going to kill Naraku and that's just that!" Shouted Inuyasha, thrusting everyone away from him.  
  
"Why is it that you're after him?" asked Kouga, watching the hanyou struggle to stand.  
  
Inuyasha didn't look him in the eyes just yet...not until he was walking past him with his sword as his walking stick.  
  
"First...he killed my first love Kikyo. Now...I think he's killed Kagome..."  
  
Kouga's eyes widened at that, and the rage in them became evident.  
  
"Killed...killed Kagome...how...when..." Kouga began to ask, his questions becoming muddled up with the others he was trying to ask.  
  
Fear was with his voice...Not because Naraku had killed her...not because he might not beat the spider hanyou...because he was afraid that Kagome could possibly be dead.  
  
He cared for her just as much as Inuyasha did...but strangely not as a lover...as his best and only real friend.  
  
"Naraku's going to pay!" Kouga shouted, running past Inuyasha and after the spider hanyou.  
  
"Wait up!" Inuyasha shouted back, trying to run.  
  
"Here...I'll help you." Sango told him, taking his arm and resting it behind her neck.  
  
"Me too." Kohaku said, taking his other hand.  
  
Together, with Shippo doing his best to stop Inuyasha's bleeding...they followed Kouga and Naraku to the battle between Kikyo and Kagome. *Yes I know, these chapters are getting longer...but I just couldn't get away from the computer long enough! Plus, I didn't want to separate them any more than they already were. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me what you think of Dragon Demon with a review!* 


	33. The Possessed

*This is basically like the last real chapter of Dragon Demon. The next one's after this are like a very very long epilogue. I had to divide them though because they were so long as a whole. Anyways...enjoy this chapter...I'm sure you'll like it. I know I did!*  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inu and co. but they certainly make for a good laugh on TV right?  
  
Chapter 33  
  
Kikyo snickered happily, seeing her reincarnation fall over, her eyes wide open with only a small sliver of soul with in her...  
  
She now had most of her soul back...and it felt good to expel the women's souls to welcome her own.  
  
Kagome would be dead as soon as her soul was gone...and Kikyo could finally go off and kill Inuyasha...Kill him for betraying her with this wench...  
  
Well...it was almost over...Kagome was almost completely gone and Kikyo would once more be complete...  
  
But there was something bothering the dead miko...  
  
The last sliver of Kagome's soul would not leave...something was holding it back...  
  
No matter how much her soul stealers tried to pull it out...it would not let go of Kagome's body...it held on tight.  
  
"Come here soul...I am your true master...not her...I own you...you are mine by origin...return!" Kikyo told it. But the sliver refused.  
  
It would not budge or allow itself to be captured.  
  
Kikyo became curious...why was it that the soul would not free the girls empty body...why did it remain...there was nothing for it there.  
  
And yet it remained...  
  
Kikyo stepped up to Kagome's fallen body...the wide blank eyes...the lifeless fingers...  
  
She reached down and pressed her fingers to Kagome's head, reading the last remaining thoughts that Kagome was receiving as she lay their blank.  
  
Yes...a person with hardly any soul can still feel...can still think...can still see... and because Kikyo was a miko she could see the thought that ran through Kagome's mind, even if they were scanty and hard to find.  
  
She found a whirlpool of them that made her heart sink...  
  
"Inuyasha! I need to find Inuyasha! He can't die to Naraku...He can't...I must help him...There must be a way...Must help Inuyasha...Inuyasha! I love him...I love him...I love Inuyasha...! Inuyasha!"  
  
Her thoughts were hard to focus on, and because there was only a little bit of soul, they were hard to understand at first. But Kikyo came to realize a moment later...that Inuyasha's love for this living girl was not one sided...and had never been...  
  
Kagome loved him, and Inuyasha loved her...and there was simply no room for the dead miko...  
  
Kikyo felt sympathy for this situation...how much she must have hurt Inuyasha by returning...for he was supposed to move...to continue living...he wasn't supposed to just run into her arms when she came back from death and act like nothing had happened...  
  
In life...one can either live in the past and find insanity...or move on and live as they are meant to...Of course they still carry the scars on their hearts on their minds, but they find things to help heal them...to help them disappear if not entirely, a little.  
  
This whole time, she had been selfish...she had tried to pry Inuyasha from the new life he had...the new existence he was trying to cope with...in order to make herself feel better...in order to relieve her own pain...  
  
She didn't feel that sorry for Kagome of course...  
  
This was her reincarnation sure...but this girl did not belong in this time and place...and so did not belong with Inuyasha...  
  
Kikyo finally changed her mind...  
  
She would kill Kagome...and then return to hell alone...for Inuyasha would not return with her for her deeds.  
  
She would return alone and never hurt Inuyasha again...  
  
Kikyo hoped he would forgive her someday...  
  
She stood up and stepped away from the nearly dead miko and stood before her...staring heartlessly at the pale face...the cloudy brown eyes...the tossled black hair...at the face that looked so much like her...but seemed not to be her at all...  
  
Kagome...  
  
Death awaited her and that was just that!  
  
Kikyo thrust one of her dragon's with in the girls chest to retrieve the last bit of the soul from her body...  
  
This would end now...and Kagome would be no more...  
  
Only Kikyo would exist...and that was her decision...  
  
She was surprised though when her dragon returned with out the sliver, and fell to pieces before her open arms...  
  
"What...?" She asked, staring at Kagome...  
  
The girls brows had knitted, and her breathing rate had increased...  
  
Kagome was trying to save herself...even though she wasn't conscience of it.  
  
"So you want to fight eh?" Kikyo asked softly. "Fine."  
  
She sent five other soul stealing dragons into Kagome's body.  
  
They all returned to her and fell apart.  
  
Then Kagome's body sat up effortlessly, as if suspended in air, and her blank eyes stared at Kikyo calmly, her expression distant.  
  
Kagome then stood, just as effortlessly as when she sat and raised her arms...calling something to her...  
  
Kikyo found it difficult to keep her soul with in her body...for it was being called by Kagome, and it tried to get to her.  
  
"You are mine! Not hers...Remain!" She shouted at it as the wind picked up around her, destroying what remained of her dragons. Her hair came free from it's paper tie and danced around her ruthlessly.  
  
Kagome's face remained calm and serene, as she continued to call her soul.  
  
But it wasn't only the soul she was calling...  
  
There was something else...something more powerful than her miko soul...  
  
Kikyo gasped as she saw the Shikon shard jump out of Kagome's skirt pocket...and as the ball of shikon and the remaining shards jumped out and came together above her...The entire Shikon jewel.  
  
Kagome could control the shikon...! But how! Kikyo thought desperately, trying to stride away from the soul less miko. How?  
  
It wasn't possible was it?  
  
Kikyo couldn't even completely control the Shikon no tama...and never had been able to.  
  
So what made Kagome so special...what allowed her to control it...  
  
Why could her reincarnation do what she could not?  
  
"Come back shikon!" came a voice from behind Kagome...ragged and tired.  
  
Naraku came out into the scene, chasing after the ball of shikon...but it was too late.  
  
It had already merged and not floated complete in Kagome's hands.  
  
Kagome relaxed her arms from their position, and held them instead at her stomach.  
  
Her eyes remained blank, clouded, and Kikyo found it harder to keep her soul at bay.  
  
Kagome had more power than Kikyo thought.  
  
The dead miko had tried her entire life to obtain such strength, and even thought she would receive it by caring for the shikon when she was asked.  
  
But never...never had she been able to.  
  
What did her reincarnation have that she did not?  
  
"Give the Shikon Jewel back to me wench!" Naraku shouted, coming in front of her. "It does not belong to you! Return it!"  
  
Naraku made the stupid move of jumping at Kagome to retrieve the jewel.  
  
He was not a demon known for acting irrationally...but that was when he had the jewel...and the power it gave him.  
  
With out it...he was nothing but a mere demon...something even lower classed than those killed by the demon exterminators.  
  
He was nothing with out it.  
  
Well...apparently Kagome had some how managed to raise a barrier around herself, and it burned Naraku's hands when he tried to reach inside for it.  
  
"Damn it!" He shouted, holding his scorched hands close to him. The blood was cold and it helped to relieve their pain.  
  
How...how...Kikyo continued to think. How could she do this with hardly any soul left in her...  
  
Kouga was next to show up...with a relieved expression on his face as he saw that Kagome was still alive...  
  
But she wasn't the Kagome he had always known.  
  
He too tried to get to her through the barrier, to hug her with his happiness...But the barrier burned him as well...leaving his hands scorched like Naraku's.  
  
"What the hell!?" he shouted.  
  
"Kikyo! This woman was supposed to be dead by now!" Naraku screamed angrily.  
  
Kikyo did not reply. He was too low now for her to even consider him dangerous.  
  
At the moment, she was still trying to figure out what could possibly be fueling this power she sensed. The shikon couldn't...could it...and even if the shikon no tama was supporting her...how was she able to control it.  
  
"Kagome! It's me! It's Kouga! Don't you remember me!" Kouga shouted.  
  
Kagome had not the power...She continued to think. Kagome couldn't do this...  
  
"Kagome!" Kouga continued.  
  
Kagome has no life left...what is supporting her...unless...  
  
"Kagome...!" The painful moan came from behind Kouga, and Kikyo's breath caught in her throat as she saw Inuyasha's pain stricken face...his beaten body...his freely flowing blood.  
  
He was supported by Sango and Kohaku, and before them came Shippo, a clothe full of blood in his hands as he did his best to clean up Inuyasha' s wounds.  
  
"Inuyasha..." She whispered...staring at her past lover.  
  
He looked at her, then shook his head and called Kagome again.  
  
Kagome did not reply...her eyes were still cold...but they were not empty...  
  
There was something else there...and Kikyo gasped softly as she saw a small tear trickle down Kagome's cheek at hearing Inuyasha's voice. But at the moment, the miko he once knew...was not in control.  
  
Kikyo understood it now...but she didn't know how.  
  
It was like she had been sent a telepathic message.  
  
Kagome was not in control.  
  
"Naraku." Kagome said...but it was not her voice. This one was deeper...richer...  
  
Naraku did not reply...he simply stared at Kagome. Everyone else did the same. They did not recognize this voice at all.  
  
"Naraku...you have used the Shikon no Tama for evil...and now you must pay for it... you have been tested and you have failed." Said the voice.  
  
Naraku stared at her with little belief, but a minute later, he lay dead on the ground his eyes open with shock.  
  
His soul rose into the sky...a mix of them in fact, and with a small burst of light from the now glittering shikon, the soul exploded in thin air.  
  
Kagome frowned softly as her body began to float up into the air...supported by nothing.  
  
"Kikyo...you have disappointed me...but not as badly as Naraku...You I will let live...and your death will come with pain. Leave my sight!" it said.  
  
"But Midoriko! I have done nothing wrong. Please...return my body if you can...I was betrayed by Naraku!" Kikyo pleaded, kneeling down to the floating Kagome.  
  
Everyone around them gasped.  
  
They had not suspected at all that the voice talking was the ancient Midoriko...the one trapped with in the shikon no tama.  
  
"Kikyo." It said sternly. "You have been reborn in a body of clay...and yet your only thought was for revenge...You did not think at all...It is this that I choose to leave you living...so that you might learn your lesson with out a chance of death. Be gone from my sight before I am forced to destroy your soul the way I did with Naraku. Leave me!"  
  
Kikyo held fear in her eyes...for the first time she had ever had in years...and left...remorse in her heart.  
  
The floating Kagome turned in mid air towards Inuyasha...and smiled softly...  
  
"I apologize for this...Inuyasha...I am pleased to meet you...Kagome has great thoughts of you...as does Kojika..."  
  
Inuyasha watched her patiently...quietly...not ready to end up like Naraku or Kikyo.  
  
"Of all those I have watched...you have impressed me the most. Inuyasha...when you were young you sought more power...as most of those in your position do. You sought a strength that you could use to defend yourself...but upon finding Kikyo...you gave it up...When she pinned you to the tree and you awoke fifty years later...you felt remorse...and sought it again. When you met Kagome, you continued to seek it, but gave up in your own heart once you became close to her. You have impressed me because you gave up seeking it for love. You gave it up for Kagome, and when you did, you began looking for it to keep it out of evils grasp. For this reason...I spare you...and your friends...I apologize to all of you for the trouble this jewel has caused you...but I ask that you find a way to free me."  
  
"How can we Midoriko?" asked Sango, beginning to feel tired as she held him up.  
  
"My jewel must be purified. In order for that to occur a good wish must be placed upon it...you understand."  
  
Sango nodded.  
  
"But then what happens to the jewel after that?" asked Kouga, looking to keep it to keep him powerful and fast.  
  
"It dies...and I and the demons trapped here and free to travel to the world of the dead."  
  
"What wishes would purify the jewel?" asked Inuyasha, looking up with pain in his eyes.  
  
"Wishes such as what you were to wish with Kikyo...and what you would with Kagome. Wishes that would weaken one...for it is so selfless a wish."  
  
Inuyasha nodded, forcing his eyes to remain open. The poison was beginning to take affect and it was causing him to get sleepy.  
  
"I see you have suffered enough yourself in following the jewel. I cannot heal the living body...but I can remove the poison from you." Midoriko said with a gentle smile...floating in close enough to feel him.  
  
With a white glowing hand, she softly touched his forehead as she closed her eyes.  
  
Instantly...Inuyasha felt a sort of warmth radiate over his body...and then the pain vanished...for the poison left...  
  
"I also sense that one of your friends has died in battle. He saved you I believe?" Midoriko asked Sango.  
  
The demon exterminator nodded, staring at the miko breathlessly...  
  
"I shall revive him...it is not yet time for him to die..." Midoriko again closed her eyes...and floated away.  
  
"He has been revived." She said simply...with a smile...  
  
Her smile vanished instantly after a tremor shook the ground...  
  
"She fights..." Midoriko whispered. "I must stop the fight from killing her." Midoriko floated up into the sky...leaving everyone down on the floor.  
  
"What's she talking about?" asked Kohaku looking around. "Who's fighting?"  
  
"Kojika is!" Replied the familiar voice from behind them. Sango's heart stopped beating.  
  
Could it be...was it true...?  
  
They all turned around slowly...and she nearly burst into tears and laughter at what she saw.  
  
Miroku stood behind them, an innocent smile on his face and the staff in his hand.  
  
"Hello." He replied, coming up to them.  
  
Sango let go of Inuyasha's arm and ran to him, hugging him tightly.  
  
"I thought you were dead!" She shouted when they both could breath from the tight embrace.  
  
"So did I. But the strangest thing happened. I saw Midoriko standing in front of the light that takes you to the world of the dead. She told me that it wasn't my time, and she sent me back. I'm glad to see everyone is still alright." He said...hugging Shippo as he ran to him and then patting Inuyasha lightly on the shoulder with a smile.  
  
"Glad you're alive houshi." Inuyasha told him with a grunt from the pain of his wounds."  
  
"And vice versa. Where is Kagome?" at this, everyone frowned at stared up at the sky, where the floating miko glowed as brightly as the sun. "What happened to her?" Miroku asked.  
  
"Midoriko is using her body to communicate to everyone. Oh...and didn't you say Kojika was fighting?" Sango implied.  
  
"Yes...she's fighting a terrific battle with the Elder, Mikoto. I could sense it as soon as I awoke."  
  
"Is that what she was talking about?" Inuyasha asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then we had better find Kojika." Inuyasha replied, beginning to stumble forward.  
  
Sango and Miroku nodded and took his arms, relieving Kohaku of his hold on Inuyasha, and the group traveled to the battle scene slowly. Kagome floated above them, almost as if she was watching them...Midoriko's soul with Kagome's eyes and body.  
  
When they came to the scene...they found Midoriko lying dead on the floor...his body torn to bits...and his blood around him...and sitting...bleeding next to him...was Kojika...her breathing shallow and the green Dragon Eye in her hand.  
  
"Kojika..." Inuyasha whispered, followed by Sango and Miroku's gasps, and Shippo's tiny cry of sorrow.  
  
She looked up...her face pale from loss of blood and poisoning...and smiled...nodding to them.  
  
Sango and Miroku dragged Inuyasha to her...and set him down...they themselves sitting down around her...looking over her body...trying to find any wounds.  
  
They found her stomach bleeding, her right eye swollen shut, and her hand cut so bad that it was merely hanging from it's socket.  
  
Kagome's glowing white body landed softly behind them, and stepped up, radiating warmth and love.  
  
"Mother..." Kojika whispered with a smile...  
  
"Kojika...It's good to see you again...even though your in this bad a condition."  
  
"Yeah...but mother...I'm glad to see you too...I'm not worried about my self...I'm meant to die sometime right?" Kojika chuckled, her face becoming whiter with every passing second.  
  
"You have grown wise my daughter...I am glad you are of my blood. And I am glad I was able to see you again before passing on." Midoriko smiled happily. "I must go now..." she closed her eyes...but Inuyasha stopped her.  
  
"What about Kagome? Will she be alright?" he asked, forcing himself to stand up, accepting help from no one.  
  
"Yes...she'll be fine. When Kikyo left, I retrieved the amount of soul she had stolen...and it waits to return to Kagome's body. I have not much time left...she worries dearly for you Inuyasha...don't disappoint her by dying." Midoriko gave one last smile, and beckoned goodbye to everyone...before leaving the body and returning to the shikon no tama.  
  
Kagome's body stood for a moment, her eyes opened only slightly, as the bright white light that was her soul returned to her body.  
  
Then her body went limp in the air and began to fall, the shikon hitting the ground opposite her.  
  
Inuyasha jumped to her and managed to catch her in his arms before she could hit the floor.  
  
"Kagome!" He shouted, as everyone gathered around him with worry.  
  
She opened her beautiful brown eyes when she heard Inuyasha's voice and smiled up at him, tears slowly trickling down the sides of her head.  
  
"Inuyasha..." She whispered.  
  
Inuyasha sighed his relief and hugged her tightly to his body...glad that she was alive and well.  
  
Then...once breaking the hug, he kissed her warmly, happily...  
  
Kouga noticed there love for each other...and smiled...even though he felt the pain of not being her one and only...  
  
Miroku stepped up to his side and patted his shoulder...  
  
"We don't always get those we think we love Kouga. It takes a while to find the perfect one. I'm sure you'll find the one you're looking for."  
  
Kouga growled at him and left, speeding off.  
  
Kohaku and Shippo were also close around Kagome, greeting her happily. It took a while for Kagome to squelch Shippo's undying curiosity to how it felt to have another soul in her body...and what it was like to be possessed.  
  
"Wait...where's Kojika?" she asked a moment later as everyone sighed their relief at her being alive.  
  
They immediately turned around...but did not see the Draymon anywhere.  
  
They did however find that Mikoto's body was quickly deteriorating. Apparently, he'd forced himself to live past his life's capacity. With out the Dragon Eye, he had no choice but to die.  
  
But how had Kojika beaten the Elder...what had she done to kill him.  
  
They all wondered that together.  
  
"What if she left because we weren't paying attention to her and is dying somewhere nearby!" shouted Shippo, looking around trees and under and over bushes.  
  
Miroku, Sango, and Kohaku followed in suite, looking for the Draymon.  
  
"Kojika..." Kagome whispered, ready to go looking for the Dragoness herself.  
  
Inuyasha refused to let her go though and she was forced to help him up with her.  
  
The place the dragons had chosen to fight was close to a cliff...overlooking the valley below, and Inuyasha beckoned her to take him there.  
  
When she had, they stood looking over the valley, a smile on Inuyasha's face.  
  
"Why aren't you worried?" Kagome asked, hugging him tightly for fear that he might fall over the cliff in his beaten condition.  
  
"She isn't dead."  
  
"How do you know?" she inquired, looking at the valley with Inuyasha.  
  
"She's a Draymon...and they don't die that easily. I'm sure she'll return later...when she's healed...and tell us all about how she defeated Mikoto. For now...she wants to be alone...so let's grant her that..." *This one was very long, but it's my favorite chapter so far. Tell me what you thought of it in a review please! Or if not, that's fine too! Next is the epilogue, which only spans two chapters.* 


	34. Epilogue 1

*I don't think this one is as long as the others, but it is interesting. Tell me if you enjoy it or not!*  
  
Disclaimer: Nope. Inuyasha and co. don't belong to me...but then again I begin to wonder if I belong to some anime writer as well... (Disregard me...I'm having a sleepy crazy moment!)  
  
Chapter 34  
  
It took a while for the group to recover after their huge fight with Naraku and their own separate enemies. They spent quite a while discussing how they had met their own foes...and how they had had to fight them in order to get back to help Inuyasha and Kagome. Kagome's tale was the most interesting though...  
  
Because she told them about the girl wearing black that came out of the well house, and how she found all of Naraku's dead bees in the well. Then, how she had fought Kikyo to survive.  
  
She said, that when Kikyo stole most of her soul, they only thing she could think about was all of them, and how she had to live to see them again.  
  
Inuyasha himself had felt the same thing, but he didn't so openly explain it as Kagome did.  
  
Kouga didn't return after he left the battles.  
  
They all suggested that it was because he wasn't the one that had killed Naraku...but secretly, they all knew it was because he hadn't gotten Kagome to be his wife like he had wanted to.  
  
It had been two days since the battle, and Kagome had played the part of nurse, running around, putting bandages on everyone's wounds.  
  
Inuyasha had taken the most, considering that his wounds refused to stop bleeding, and she had had to use quiet a bit of gauze for him.  
  
Strangely enough, even though the shikon was whole again, they hadn't seen a single demon attempting to get it. They didn't know whether they demons saw the battle and were afraid of them, or whether they found it not to be as powerful as it was before.  
  
In any case, they were grateful for the absence of the demons.  
  
The day after the battle, Miroku proposed marriage and Sango had accepted. They were engaged, and talked of having many children and restarting their own demon exterminating village.  
  
Shippo began playing with the village children, and taught them how to fool demons into thinking they were tougher than they really were.  
  
He used a lot of his toys in the process of the teachings.  
  
Kikyo was never seen or heard of again around Kaede's village.  
  
Some figured she had died after Kagome's soul was retrieved...some thought that she was eaten by an angry demon...In any case...she never returned.  
  
The people began thinking of Kagome as a great spirit, and it was worse than when she first came to the village and they found out she was Kikyo's reincarnation.  
  
She receive food in the bundles, and took her, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara, and Kaede to eat it all up before it went bad.  
  
Mikoto, although he had been an evil dragon, was buried and prayed for upon the cliff he had fought and died on.  
  
Miroku had done it himself of course...for he felt that no matter what or who you were, you deserved a good burial.  
  
Kagome and Inuyasha became closer after the battle than ever before...  
  
Now they could be found together everywhere...always close...always talking or laughing...happy...  
  
Three days after the battle though, Kagome had to return home to see how her family was.  
  
She was worried about the girl with the black clothing being something evil...and Inuyasha had insisted on coming with her...to see how everything went.  
  
He did not make it through with her...  
  
She climbed out of the well...waiting for Inuyasha to come out...but he never did...  
  
She tried to go back through...to find out what had happened...but the well wouldn't let her through...  
  
It denied her access...  
  
After about an hour of waiting...she burst into tears and cried until her mother found her to comfort her...  
  
Kagome told her of what had happened...and of course...like any caring mother...she felt relieved that her daughter had survived such a brutal attack.  
  
She brought Kagome inside...but for that entire day...she spent her time staring at the well from her bedroom window...waiting for Inuyasha to climb out and greet her...  
  
To tell her that he had been held back for a little while for a reason he had taken care of...but he didn't.  
  
She stayed up all night...staring at the well... hoping he would return.  
  
Finally, by early morning...she gave up waiting by her window and went outside into the cool morning air.  
  
She stood over the well, after trying to get through a few times...and sobbed again...  
  
This time, it wasn't her mother that came out to greet her...  
  
The woman she had seen a few days ago, coming from the well house, stepped in and patted her on the shoulder.  
  
"Follow me..." she whispered when Kagome looked up.  
  
"Who-who are you?" Kagome stuttered, wiping her eyes of the tears.  
  
"I'm sure you don't recognize me...but I'll let you know when we get there." The woman told her.  
  
"Go where?" Kagome asked.  
  
"My mansion."  
  
"You have got to be kidding me! I don't know you and I'm not going to your mansion!" Kagome shouted, stepping back. She nearly fell down the well.  
  
"If you want to see Inuyasha you will." The girl replied, walking away.  
  
Kagome didn't trust the girl, but her heart ached to see Inuyasha again.  
  
She followed the girl away from her house, where her family slept peacefully, and walked behind her down the side walk.  
  
"You can walk with me you know...not behind me." The woman told her when they were close to the mansion.  
  
"Not until you tell me who you are." Kagome replied with a whisper.  
  
The road was quiet and hardly anyone passed them by...so her whisper seemed loud to the street.  
  
"Not yet...ah...we're here." The woman replied, pushing a button on the tall black gate that stood in front. The gate sprang up tall and wide, with the decoration of little dragon heads flying up from the tops of them.  
  
But what astonished her the most, was when she saw the mansion.  
  
It was tall and old, with fresh green vines clinging to it's old brown brick walls and many windows...each polished to shine cleanly.  
  
The main door was tall, and composed of wood and polished glass. The roof came out and spiked up at the corners, like an old Chinese castle, and the yard in front was breath taking with it's many blooming cherry blossom trees and great standing oaks...  
  
There was a drive way that circled before the front door and in the middle was a flowing waterfall with orange cat fish swimming in it. It was a mansion a girl couldn't help but own.  
  
"Who is here?" asked a deep masculine voice from the intercom.  
  
"It's the mistress of the household...Kira Hinigeshi." The woman said.  
  
"Good morning Kira. I did not realize you had left this morning."  
  
"It's alright Soske. Let me in, I have a visitor." Kira told the intercom.  
  
"Certainly ma'am. Welcome home!" Soske told her, letting her in.  
  
"Thank you Soske."  
  
The gigantic gate opened up, granting them passage.  
  
Kira beckoned them in and they walked up to the front door, in which it swung open instantly to the bowing of many prettily dressed maids and servants.  
  
"Welcome home my lady!" they all said happily.  
  
"Well thank you. I'm surprised you're all up this early." Kira told them.  
  
"We are happy to serve you at any time my lady." One of the servants told her effectionately.  
  
"Why thank you. Come in Kagome...he's inside."  
  
The servants moved out of their way with awe as the woman in black was followed by the other teenage girl.  
  
"How do you know about Inuyasha and me?" Kagome asked when they were in the library of the mansion. "And how do you know my name?"  
  
Kira smiled, and pulled a book out of the bookshelf.  
  
A door opened to the left, allowing them both in.  
  
"I'll tell you when we're inside." Kira told her as she lead Kagome down the old stone passage way. There were torches lit the entire way, and Kira grabbed one, beckoning Kagome to follow her.  
  
Kagome didn't like the fact that they were following a passage way that no one likely knew about...but followed just the same in hopes of seeing Inuyasha.  
  
When they reached the following chamber...her breath caught in her throat.  
  
Inuyasha was laying neatly on a tall cushioned table...his hair was still silver...his hoari still red and hanging loosely to his body...  
  
Kagome ran to him with out another word grabbed his shoulder...trying to wake him up.  
  
She noticed then that his hands were laying on his chest, and sitting between them, was the shikon no tama.  
  
"You see...when you left about five hundred years ago, you forgot to take the shikon no tama with you...so you could no longer come back... Inuyasha himself tried to get to you...but he could not...you see...Midoriko had found her true time and resting place...in the Feudal era, so she prevented passage anymore than one time. So when you went through the well...that became your last time.  
  
"Inuyasha searched for you everywhere...he did everything he could think of to find you...and soon he wore himself out." Kira said...with a smile.  
  
"What happened to him...he's alive and warm...but he won't wake up...How do I wake him up?" Kagome asked, turning to Kira. "What do I have to do to wake him?"  
  
"I can see that you really want to talk to him. Okay...let me tell you something really quick. I'm not surprised that you don't recognize me, but now this...you've known me and you've seen me...and in order to live a life with him with me...I had to take another disguise... Inuyasha came to me about a month after you disappeared and did not return. How he found me I don't know...but he asked me for a favor. He asked that if it were possible, that I could somehow help him to see you...considering that I knew how to use the shikon no tama. I agreed, but I told him that there was a different way...and that although it would take him a longer time...he would remain happy with you forever. I put him to sleep with a dragon spell...this sleep keeps him young and revitalized...similar to when he was pinned to the god tree for those fifty years. I put him to sleep, but he made me promise that I would find you, only after you came through the well the last time. You probably haven't seen me or realized it, but I've been following and watching you for the last year. Since the time you met Inuyasha, 'til now I've been like you're shadow. Now you're here and now that time of watching him has been spent. He also had me promise to keep an eye on all of your friends. Including Kouga for some reason."  
  
"They're all alive?" Kagome asked, astonished.  
  
"Oh yes...very much alive...unlike Kaede and Kikyo...but they passed away because of time."  
  
"Then tell me...who are you?" Kagome asked. * Tell me who the mystery girl in black is and I'll tell you if your right, wrong, or even close. I hope you enjoyed this, because I can't post the next until I at least have one person take a shot at trying to figure out who this mystery person is! And her real name isn't Kira Hinigeshi!* 


	35. Epilogue 2 The Full Ending

*Hey peoples! You're correct! Kira Hinigeshi is truly Kojika! Man you're all so smart! Anyways...here's the next chapter, and the ending for all you peoples! I hope you like it! I think it's a bit long, but I had to include everything I could remember from the story. This is my favorite chapter of the entire set. Enjoy!*  
  
Disclaimer: You already know this, so let's get onto the story!  
  
Epilogue  
  
I couldn't help but smile at Kagome's antics. Yes...it had been years since I had seen her...five hundred to be exact...but now the promise that Inuyasha had made me accept was over...at least it was almost. I still had to wake him up for Kagome...so that they could live together...and tell them of their friends' progress...  
  
How Inuyasha found me...I had no idea...  
  
I had been in a village...a good distance from Kaede's village, walking with a straw hat on my head, and a new weapon on my back. My father's Dragon Eye was around my neck glittering it's beautiful green.  
  
Then I found him...and it reminded me of the first time I saw him...only then the people of his village had been trying to kill him...  
  
Now he walked amongst them...as if he was just like them...one of them...  
  
There was no one with him...no one following him or leading him anywhere...  
  
It was just him...  
  
"I need your help..." he whispered...looking at me with his golden eyes.  
  
"What kind of help?" I asked.  
  
And he told me.  
  
Now here I sit, talking with the woman he loved, Kikyo's reincarnation Kagome...and she asked who I was.  
  
What was I to answer?  
  
Would I say that I was this Kira Hinigeshi that everyone around me knew me as? No. I had lived another five hundred years...keeping Inuyasha's body with me...hiding it from the people around so that they wouldn't become scared by his appearance.  
  
I made much money in the time, and now I was the owner of a great antique shop...or should I say many around the world.  
  
I took in the expensive old antiques...and sold them for good prices...I auctioned them... and then bought new ones with the money.  
  
I had bought various different homes...castles and things...and now I was once more the Demon of my lands...the Southern lands...  
  
"It's me, Kojika." I told her sweetly.  
  
She stared at me with disbelief, and I had to take my old shape again just to convince her of who I was.  
  
"Kojika!" She replied, hugging me happily.  
  
I was glad to see her again as well.  
  
"You look just like you did when you disappeared. Then again...you are just as you were when you disappeared. It's only been a few days for you." I joked.  
  
She laughed, wiping away new tears.  
  
"Here...let me wake the sleepy head up." I said with a smile.  
  
I spoke a low spell, one I had learned years ago, and at the end, clicked my fingers.  
  
Inuyasha's eyes sprang open at the click and he sat up, rubbing his eyes like a child would.  
  
"Where am I?" He asked looking.  
  
He stopped when he saw Kagome.  
  
Instantly he grabbed her and embraced her in a warm hug.  
  
Then there were kisses and more hugging, and it took quite an effort to break them apart so I could tell them the information I was sure they really wanted to know.  
  
"Hey guys...you'll have plenty of time for that later... I'm sure you want to know about you're friends right?"  
  
"Yes!" They acknowledged together, separating to sit side by side, an arm around each other's waist.  
  
"Okay then, ask me about any one of them...and I'll tell you."  
  
"Shippo?" Kagome asked. Inuyasha nodded his agreement.  
  
"About five hundred years ago, he was adopted by Sango and Miroku and he grew up as their child. Then, I think about a century ago, he met the beautiful Jani Ying, a human actress from China. They married, and now a days...Shippo is the demon lord of the Eastern lands I do believe."  
  
"Demon lord of the eastern lands?" Inuyasha asked.  
  
"Yep. His father was before him and Shippo never knew. Now he's taken over his father's title and owns the leading manufacturer of children's toys. He owns toy factories all over the world."  
  
"Sounds like he hasn't lost his childish ways." Kagome laughed softly.  
  
"Yes...and now he has about five children and many grand children with his demonic blood. His children are hanyou's like you Inuyasha, and his grandchildren are mostly a fourth of a demon."  
  
"Well..." Kagome replied with a smile.  
  
"What about Miroku and Sango?" Inuyasha asked curiously.  
  
"Well...since they married and adopted Shippo, they took on his blood to where they became nearly hanyou's themselves. They're still alive, but they look rather old and withered and live in a special home on Shippo's money, where they're awaiting their long awaited deaths."  
  
"Oh..." Kagome sighed soflty.  
  
"Don't feel bad for them. They've had a happy life. Around five hundred years ago they had over twelve children, in which were taught both their tricks. Sango started a demon exterminating village and Miroku became a writer for many of the scripts of the old days that are being translated these days. We'll just say that not many of the children followed in the footsteps of their lecherous father."  
  
All three of them laughed at that.  
  
"How about Kouga?" Kagome asked curiously.  
  
"Why you asking about him?" Inuyasha implied.  
  
"I'm curious to if he ever found someone to love?" Kagome asked with a smile.  
  
"Actually...he did..."  
  
"Really!" Both of them shouted, not believing their ears.  
  
I couldn't help but laugh at this myself...but Kouga really had gotten over Kagome.  
  
"Strangely enough, he found Kagura and the two of them fell in love in strange ways. They ganged together and became top teachers of samurai in the feudal era. Nowadays, I believe they have a small school for the training of body guards. Some of their body guards have come to be excellent, many protecting the emperor of Japan right now. They had a few children, but not many."  
  
"Well...I guess everyone should have love..." Kagome replied with a chuckle. "I just never expected that kind of pairing."  
  
"Yeah...well...Kanna...Kagura's younger sister...no one ever heard of her again...I had trouble finding her...but I guess we should be happy that she isn't Naraku's servant any more...She became a fortune teller and nowadays she travels from place to place, showing people who they truly are through her mirror."  
  
"I'm curious." Inuyasha asked.  
  
"Yes?" I wondered.  
  
"What ever happened to Kikyo? Where is she?"  
  
"Oh Kikyo...she's no longer with the living. A good time ago she got caught up in Salem during the Salem Witch Trials and was tried as a witch. You know that little test they do on people to see if their witches. When they cut the persons arm to see if they bleed and if they don't their witches. They were quite surprised when they only found mud and leaves and souls coming from Kikyo, so they burned her alive. Strangely, she didn't fight it. She wanted to die. So she's gone now. Oh...and there was just one other person I thought you'd like to hear about." I smiled happily.  
  
"Who?" Kagome asked with curiosity. Inuyasha's eyes asked me the same thing.  
  
"Sesshomaru."  
  
"Really...what's happened to him?" Inuyasha asked.  
  
"Well..." I began with a smile. "Sesshomaru now is the largest manufacturer of Ramen ever known. You know that kind called Maru-chan?"  
  
"Yeah...it's my favorite kind." Inuyasha replied, licking his lips as he thought about the delicious noodle delight.  
  
"Well...that's Sesshomaru's brand. Think about it...Maru...Sesshomaru...Maru is a part of his name." I said with a laugh.  
  
"Oh yeah!" Kagome laughed.  
  
"What?! No kidding! Dang...I've been eating Sesshomaru's ramen the whole time I was in the feudal era. That's weird." Inuyasha nearly freaked out, but he regained his calm, and actually laughed about it.  
  
"What about Jaken, and the girl that traveled with them...Rin?" Kagome asked.  
  
"Well...Jaken is still Sesshomaru's servant, only now he's richer, better cared for, and is Sesshomaru's top adviser and secretary. He takes care of the money and balances, and watches over the factories doings. Rin on the other hand, was adopted as Sesshomaru's daughter, and is now a kindergarten teacher for a special school somewhere here in Japan. Her coworkers know about how long she's lived...but they keep it secret because they're her friends and she's such a successful teacher! She also met and married someone I'm sure you've been acquainted with."  
  
"Who?" Kagome asked.  
  
"Kohaku...Sango's brother. They came together, now a lot older, and got married. How Kohaku managed to survive these many years...I still don't know? But I have the impression that Naraku left some of his blood in him, in order to control him, and so gave him a longer life span."  
  
"Wow..." Inuyasha mumbled in surprise. "I never thought of those two getting together either."  
  
"A lot has changed in so little time!" Kagome exclaimed happily.  
  
"You've got that right!" Inuyasha replied.  
  
"Well...I believe that is all you requested Inuyasha...Am I correct?" I implied, watching him with my patient brown eyes.  
  
"Well...there is one more thing." Inuyasha requested.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How did you beat Mikoto?"  
  
"Well...now that's a story in it's self. You see...around the beginning of the battle, he had stuck a jewel of Dragon Poison into my stomach...for I guess he thought I was too powerful for him to fight fairly or something or other. Anyways...During the fight, and around the end, I managed to take the poisonous ball out of my belly and stuck it into his chest. Then, I took the Dragon Eye from him and tried to use it to transform into my true form, of the ancient dragon. He was ready for this however, and took the stone back from me before I had enough energy. I tried to transform, but upon taking the form, I became too weak and de-transformed again. Isn't that heroic? Well, he took his form, and we fought, in which many of the little tremors I'm sure you felt originated from that..."  
  
"We didn't get many tremors. In fact, there was only one when Midoriko was controlling Kagome's body. That sent us toward you." Inuyasha explained.  
  
"Well... There were others...I guess you heard the one coming from when Mikoto fell from mid air. You see, the poison began to sap his energy away and he had been flying at the same time, so he fell from the sky and landed, crushing many of his bones."  
  
"But aren't demons bones stronger than humans?" Kagome asked, a little confused. She had it in mind that a demon couldn't break his neck simply by falling from a distance.  
  
"Anything can break when dropped from the distance he was flying." I continued. "But it wasn't only that. A number of things caused him to fall...my fathers Dragon Eye for instance. It refused Mikoto's evil deed and ended up killing him because of it, causing the poison to spread over his body far faster than even for a human. It helped the poison. Mikoto fell and was dead when he hit the ground."  
  
"Oh yeah...there was something I wanted to ask you." Inuyasha spoke seriously now. I wondered what he wanted to say. "Was Midoriko really your mother?"  
  
Kagome gasped at this, and stared at me, wondering in her thoughts about how that had come about. I smiled, and answered their wondering eyes.  
  
"Yes...Midoriko is my mother. You recollect how I told you that my mother was a miko and my father was the greatest Dragon of my people?"  
  
Miko and hanyou nodded.  
  
"Well...the reasoning for that, was that Midoriko, at first, had been a mere miko, born to protect her home and her people. She didn't have the extraordinary powers that she does now. The fact was, that when she was a teenager, she was gullible, and even a little clumsy. Midoriko tried to be friends with everything, and because she was betrayed so much, the Shikon no Tama formed. It's strange...A better explanation would be to say that her soul could no longer take the abuse her gullible mind placed on it, so it began to harden against everything else, and soon formed her soul into a tiny ball in her heart. Because her soul was so neatly squeezed together, it left room in her body to open up new powers and different techniques. It is similar with dragons, only age and experience does it for us, not so much the emotions felt. She opened up powers at a young age that even the elderly mikos hadn't been able to do in their prime. Soon, she had the power to purify demon's hearts, and was known to do so every time a demon tried to deceive her. She made up for gullibility with purification to put it shortly. This change in power is also similar to Kikyo. When she was revived, she only had hatred, so her soul too, or what was left of it, rolled into a ball in her body and she was able to call out little soul stealers from her own body. This is what makes mikos different from the regular human or demon. Well, she came upon a demon she could not purify, my father the Demon Lord of the Eastern Lands Hitoro Kazume. He already had a good heart, and so when she thought he was trying to deceive her, she couldn't purify him. They got close, and fell in love. My father Hitoro took her home and married her, even though the other dragons dispised mikos, and I was born. But there was a corruption at home, and they sentenced Midoriko to death. Apparently they thought she was after the Dragon Eye, and so they convicted her of deception, and in an attempt to save her life, my father snuck her out. I never really knew her, except for a few visits to where she was, but she was killed by a hoard of demons when I was five. My father remained to care for me until about two hundred sum years later, when Mikoto fooled me and killed my father, taking the throne and the Demon Eye, and outcasting me from my people. The dragons didn't mind. I was nothing but scum to them, born to be nothing but a nuiscance. Now I'm more powerful than any of them have ever been and I'm the Lady of their people."  
  
"You haven't married yet right?" Inuyasha asked, curious.  
  
"No...I haven't...and I don't believe I will. I'll probably adopt or something. Perhaps another girl perhaps. Oh! And I wanted you to see someone that's been waiting patiently to say hello. Come out...come on...it's okay...you remember them right?"  
  
Inuyasha and Kagome's eyes fluttered towards the tiny little red dragon that floated out, with the beautiful rippling flame for a tail and hair style, and the precious blue eyes their little friend had always had.  
  
"Kazu!" Kagome shouted gleefully, running out to pet the perky little dragon. Kazu responded with a happy chirp.  
  
"How did you revive him?" Inuyasha asked, also patting the dragons head.  
  
"Well, when Kikyo passed away, his soul came back to me. Come on, he is a part of me! I recreated his body and now they're all back."  
  
"Oh...and where is the little black dragon. Moru I think his name was...where is he, and how come he survived when his brothers and sisters did not?" Kagome asked patiently.  
  
"Well, Moru's off hiding in the walls around here. I doubt you'll see him. He doesn't even like visitors he knows, and he hates Kazu. As for the fact of why he survived when the others died, that comes from the fact that I created him from a soul I found wandering along the river. I don't know who's it was, but it was certainly vengeful to the world. Now it's Moru, although he's actually kind of sweet when it comes to a serious situation."  
  
"Oh." Inuyasha replied, sniffing around. He couldn't find the little black dragon anywhere.  
  
I smiled as I watched him.  
  
Yes...he was just the way I had seen him so many years ago. Just as inquisitive of his environment as I remembered him.  
  
"Hey Kojika...?" Inuyasha began.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I wanted to become human using the shikon no tama. Is it possible for it to do that?"  
  
"Very." I answered him. "Very possible. My mother's still trapped in there you remember, along with the demons she had to fight when her soul left her body. Once you use it for good, the souls will be released."  
  
"How do I do that?" Kagome asked, after getting over her surprise of Inuyasha's inquiry.  
  
"Well...you both have to touch it, and then you both simply wish for him to be human at the same time. But don't keep your eyes open...it ruins it." I told them, with a little smile. So Inuyasha had changed his ways...I knew he would. He said he had wanted to be a demon, but after experiencing it for himself, he knew how dangerous being that could be. Yes...I had been watching him for a while after he was freed from the God tree, and I knew about his little demon transformations. I was just thankful he hadn't been forced to take a full demon form in the entire process. Now...he could actually escape it.  
  
"Okay!" Inuyasha and Kagome chorused. They stood opposite each other, and held the jewel, Kagome's keeping it up, and Inuyasha's covering it. They closed their eyes, and began to whisper under their breath.  
  
I smiled as the silver locks on Inuyasha's head vanished and the ears shrunk into normal human ones. His golden eyes became darker, fuller, and violet in color, and his sharp talon like nails shrank into little human nails. Even his fangs shrank a little, but not too much, for he was a meat eater.  
  
When they opened their eyes, Kagome dropped the empty jewel and ran into Inuyasha's arms, both of them happy at the fact that it had worked. I was sort of glad that they were so happy, but was also wishing that they would break it up...because the moment was becoming way to mushy.  
  
In a minute, they would have started kissing.  
  
I stopped paying attention to them however, when I heard the crash of the jewel, and the white essence that was Midoriko's soul floating up to the ceiling. It stopped though, before going through the wall, to call something to it. I was surprised when Moru jumped out of the wall and followed her. Kagome and Inuyasha didn't notice this, but I did. Being a dragon made one attentive...especially one that was over a millennia in age. I realized then, that even after Midoriko had died, my father still loved her, and she to him. Moru...believe it or not, had been my father, recreated by me into the body of a dragon. He winked at me and floated off, clicking to me happily, that he thanked me for reuniting him and his love. I smiled, and clicked back, that it wasn't me but the new miko before me.  
  
He never replied.  
  
I gave Kagome and Inuyasha a little more time for them, and turned to pet Kazu affectionately. He looked at me with glinting eyes, and then smiled the only way a dragon can.  
  
"You knew the entire time who Moru was didn't you?" I told him in clicks in chirps.  
  
He didn't reply, only chirped little laughs of happiness at Inuyasha and Kagome's closeness.  
  
I shrugged and turned around, watching them myself. I only just barely caught the little wink that Kazu showed off, showing that he had indeed known that Moru was my father the entire time.  
  
You see, I had never really gotten to talk with Moru, because he constantly left away from me, and denied my company. I figured now, that it was because I looked so much like my mother that he couldn't bare to see it.  
  
Well...there wasn't too much happening here. Kagome and Inuyasha thanked me for all I had done, leaving out to visit with their old friends. I gave them addresses and money of course to find there friends, and received letters about what had happened when they couldn't visit me.  
  
They told me that Shippo had nearly fainted with surprise when they showed up to say hello, and how his children had gotten close to them immediately. They said every child looked just like Shippo did when he was younger.  
  
They found Miroku and Sango as well, and commented on how old they looked. But they were happy of course, and they even said that Miroku hadn't lost his lecherous touch...only now, the only person he ever patted with a perverted mind was Sango.  
  
They said they had run into Kouga and Kagura while they were training and had actually had a discussion with them. Kouga laughed at how silly he had been when he was little, and Kagura remained the same cold hearted person...only now she was with Kouga.  
  
Inuyasha even got to stay for a day of training, and nearly beat up on one of the students when they hit him too hard during combat practice. He insisted that it was an accident, and Kouga laughed and said that he still had the instinct of a warrior in him.  
  
Sesshomaru was next, although they were a little reluctant to meet him. In fact, it was Sesshomaru that found them...saying that he was a totally different person now because of age...life...and ramen.  
  
He gave Inuyasha a whole new wardrobe, and the both of them a mansion to live in when they married. Jaken still hadn't let his grudge go for all the times Inuyasha and Kagome had beaten him up during battle or any other time, but he was friendlier all the same. Sesshomaru also gave Inuyasha a job as a well paid Ramen taster, tasting the new brands of ramen that came out in the line. Go figure.  
  
Rin came to visit also, with Kohaku at her side, and Kagome had actually been able to have an educated conversation with them. Then Kohaku and Inuyasha had sparred in the back yard, and Inuyasha had gotten his butt whooped by an older and more experienced Kohaku. He didn't hold a grudge over it though. Kanna they never saw...for she avoided them at all costs, and so they ended their quests then, marrying and settling down in the mansion they had been granted.  
  
Kagome became a history teacher (go figure) and became well known for her expertise in the Feudal Era of Japan. She often talked as if she had been there, and the students liked to call her the History Higurashi. The students were very fond of her though, and often asked her questions and what it was like for men and women then when demons still roamed.  
  
Inuyasha and Kagome had a few kids...not too many but Kagome didn't know if she could still handle a crowd, and they grew up to be powerful and smart people.  
  
It's not really known how many there were, or what they did, but they became quite famous for what they knew  
  
As for me, I remained in the antique shop business, and a few years after freeing Inuyasha from the spell, I adopted a small demon baby that I named Midoriko after my mother. When I passed away later, she became the leader of the Dragon people...what was left of them though. Many no longer became full demons after they were born.  
  
So...you can say as a wanderer I tried to run away from my past, but found that I had to fight it in order to be free of my binds. As a Dragon, I became wise, and taught many towards the right direction, such as Inuyasha, even though it took him a little longer to conduct what I taught. And as a woman...I finally found my peace from my almost immortal life to die in happiness...a Dragon amongst her friends and family.  
  
Okay...a little too mushy I know...but true... And now you know of how Inuyasha's quests came...and don't think the destruction of Naraku was the only one.  
  
There were many others, even before that that I chose not to mention for they had no importance to this story.  
  
But now you can see that over time many things happen, and even some wicked people can change. So don't think the world is eternally evil...  
  
Everyone can have a good side...  
  
Some a bad...  
  
But don't narrow yourself down to just one person...  
  
After all...  
  
I am a mentor...  
  
I am a miko...  
  
I am...the Dragon Demon.  
The End  
  
*So, what do you think! I like the ending. And I'm sorry if Inuyasha seems to act a little weird in this chapter...but I just couldn't help it. It just seemed that maybe I should alter his character just a little in order to make him a little more aggressive to the questions. I even doubt that in the series he would ever forget Kikyo, but at least he wouldn't always be running to her side as long as he had Kagome. Oh well, review me on what you think...and I'll do my best to put up another good story when I've thought of one. There is one that I might finish, which is a Yu Yu Hakusho tournament thing, in which they have to team up with the Spirit Detective from America (so far it seems that Yusuke only defends Japan, so why can't there be a different detective in another place?). I've even got another in mind which follows similar tracks, only there is a new enemy on the rise and the Yu Yu Hakusho team get to group up with the Spirit Detectives from all around the world. There's one from Russia, India, Africa, Australia, China, America, Alaska, etc. Let's just say its supposed to be funny and the Yu Yu team learn a whole bunch of new tricks from their buddies around the world. I'm thinking of making the India girl fight a Snake youkai and charm or something, but that's only an idea. Oh well! Tell me what you think I should write! I need a few new ideas to work with! Thanks for reading the story! See yah later...! ^.~ * 


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